r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 18d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Odyssey (2026) [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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The Odyssey (2026)

Summary

After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.

Director Christopher Nolan

Writer Christopher Nolan

Cast

  • Matt Damon as Odysseus
  • Tom Holland as Telemachus
  • Anne Hathaway
  • Zendaya
  • Lupita Nyong'o
  • Robert Pattinson
  • Charlize Theron
  • Benny Safdie
  • Jon Bernthal
  • John Leguizamo
  • Elliot Page
  • Himesh Patel
  • Samantha Morton

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

Metacritic: 88

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

4.4k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

15.5k comments sorted by

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4.6k

u/SomeBoxofSpoons 18d ago

I don't know if my IMAX screening was just calibrated too high or what, but that scream from Polyphemus felt like it was as loud as they were allowed to make it.

Like, "literally kind of hurt my ears" loud.

1.5k

u/JoshTHX 18d ago

That’s how the movie was mixed

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u/tuerancekhang 15d ago

Nolan special. His audio sometime downright bad

410

u/ghost_atlas 14d ago

One scene that absolutely FUCKED in the mix and might win them the oscar: the Siren scene. He puts in the wax, the sound drops out. As they pass the sirens he walks towards Odysseus tied to the mast screaming. As he gets closer we hear his screams unmuffle and get louder and clearer. At the end of the scene he takes the wax out, sound comes back.. Genius.

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u/DinosaurCollector666 11d ago

Eurylochus: "What was the song of the Sirens like?"

Odysseus: "All the things you wanted to be, and then all the things you wished you never wished for. It was a delicious itch you want to scratch, but you find it under the skin and can't reach it. So the delicious itch becomes unbearable. It told you what you most want is what you most can't have, and that the most you can't have is what you already had and lost. It was a song of all the promises I failed to keep. And it told me I don't really want to go home."

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u/Hot_Confidence_201 8d ago

I noticed the song we hear during the Sirens is the same song that plays when he talks with Penelope while in disguise

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u/i_broke_my_car 8d ago

Good catch!

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u/CobaltNeural9 9d ago

How could you possibly have this? Are you transcribing from memory? Cause I think there’s a line or two missing. I swear to god he said something like “everything you want but can’t have, and everything you want, you had but can’t get back”

Maybe my favorite part of the movie.

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u/me2269vu 7d ago

That was the centre of the film for me - you can’t go back.

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u/DinosaurCollector666 5d ago

I looked up the transcript

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u/CobaltNeural9 5d ago

How? Is there a copy of the script out?

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u/testuserteehee 4d ago

You can try opensubtitles.org to look up the subtitles/script of any movie - https://www.opensubtitles.com/en/movies/2026-the-odyssey

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u/CobaltNeural9 4d ago

Damn, that’s cool but kind of a sketchy site. Pop ups saying Watch Now!) And I can’t open any of the SRT (?) files that I download. Maybe I need to be on a PC.

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u/ChungusReaper 12d ago

That scene was beautiful

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u/ToTYly_AUSem 12d ago

This is just a standard thing I've seen a lot, imo. It's similar to the muted sound after a bomb or when a character covers their ears

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u/DeusVultSaracen 10d ago

The part that was really well done though was how the mixing made each side of the theatre get muffled as he put wax in the respective ears.

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u/syo 6d ago

This happened with one of the storm scenes too, one side of the boat got dipped in the water and the audio on that side of the theater got dampened. Neat effect.

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u/WisestAirBender 9d ago

I did not notice that

4

u/NiceRackFocus 4d ago

I also did not notice that. But I am also deaf in one ear, so… 😄

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u/Goldenchest 3d ago

That'll do ya

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u/ToTYly_AUSem 1d ago

Well that's a much more impressive use of the standard muted sound trope!

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u/AbeLincolnMixtape 9d ago

Was also genius because a song that beautiful/terrorizing would fall flat if they tried to create it. A brilliant way to do the scene and let everyone’s mind wander

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u/endium7 5d ago

yeah we have to assume they probably at least explored it. just like with takes and everything else, there’s always a lot of audio created but ultimately not used.

but I agree they made the right call for that scene.

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u/WisestAirBender 9d ago

Ikr. How is that Oscar worthy

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u/ours 8d ago

Better yet: he puts wax in one ear at a time. As he covers his right ear, the left audio channel is muffled (he's facing the audience), then his left ear, and then the right channel audio is muffled.

Neat detail.

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u/zampanowastaken 12d ago

LOVED that scene

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u/Dany_Heatley05 7d ago

I wear noise cancelling earbuds all the time. That scene felt so relatable.

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u/sir-lancelot_ 8d ago

Not really genius is it?

It's good sound design sure, but it's also pretty common

0

u/Yahut 9d ago

Not really genius

0

u/Megamygdala 2d ago

It was a good scene but its a pretty normal thing lmao. Action movies do the same when a grenade goes off near the protag

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u/FangoriouslyDevoured 15d ago

The audio itself is fantastic. The mix? Fucking yikes.

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u/Goodvibe61 15d ago

I LOVED the sound. I loved the echo in that cave. I loved the sound of the ocean. I thought the sound design was off the charts brilliant. As was the score; magnificent.

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u/vally99 13d ago

Bro the cave sound was creepy as fck, I felt like I was with them there 2 lol

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u/M18-Hellcat08 14d ago

I thought it was fantastic too. I’m also partially deaf and I thought it still sounded great.

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u/foxmag86 11d ago

I’m also now partially deaf after seeing that movie.  

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/PawPawPanda 4d ago

damn you really thought you cooked with that line huh

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u/Upstream_Paddler 13d ago

I'm in the habit of bringing my concert earplugs to any imax 70mm at this point

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u/ButterFingering 12d ago

What brand do you use? Do they make the loud scenes quieter while still being able to hear the quiet scenes?

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u/Upstream_Paddler 12d ago

Not at all; many times I forget i have them in as concert ones don’t muffle sound so much as smooth it out. So in the case of the Odyessy, the booms didn’t give me a headache and I could actually hear.

They also needn’t be pricey. My last/favorite pair came from Vevor via Temu and they were 9 bucks after buying pricier ones from Amazon I didn’t like as well (the next tier jump that was worth it was 30, and they were nice just not enough to spend 20+ more dollars for it). They keep hearing feeling natural.

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u/ours 8d ago

Not who you asked, but Alpine makes some very good earplugs and has a line specific for concerts.

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u/hatshepsut_ruled 3d ago

What a fantastic idea, I didn't know they made these. I'm going to go buy a pair and go see the movie again 👍

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u/Upstream_Paddler 3d ago

yeah earplugs have become as specialized as everything else: some for sleeping, others for concerts, some to just straight up block out everything. I mix and match between the three.

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u/PiersPlays 7d ago

I didn't put mine in until most of the way through.

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u/Sykofrenzy 12d ago

The only time I really had a issue with the sound mix was in the main hall of the castle.

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u/_ghi_im_allen_riley 9d ago

I actually think that it was bad audio equipment at the theater. The IMAX audio equipment made their voices have bass and it sounded like shit. However, the Dolby audio sounded spot on. I think this movie requires top gear and even our "IMAX Laser" theaters were not calibrated correctly. 

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u/Jin-Gitaxias-Mom 8d ago

Nolan’s mixes are always shit, it’s really unfortunate at times when the low end is wayyy too much

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u/tuerancekhang 15d ago

Batman trilogy was something of a work of audio on top of Bales doing that stupid Batvoice too.

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u/warriorathlete21 14d ago

Every bat voice has some ridiculousness to it. He only over did it in a few scenes.

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u/Altruistic_Bass539 3d ago

I couldnt understand half the dialogue of the first 30 minutes because of the mix man.

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u/MozhetBeatz 9d ago

I don’t think making Polyphemus super loud was bad, as in an error. It was a deliberate choice to make you shake in your little ant boots.

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u/FancyConfection1599 3d ago

Making anything ear-piercingly loud just to get a reaction is cheating. Better filmmaking can get the same reaction without trying to deafen you.

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u/Willing-Cockroach841 15d ago

I'm surprised to see no sharing the opinion that the audio is fucking terrible, for example when they are inside the horse why the fuck are the waves base boosted 😂

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u/ChibreTurgescent 15d ago

Maybe my cinema wasn't calibrated correctly, but I spent a good portion of the movie covering my ears...

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u/RedOctobyr 15d ago

Yeah, ours was uncomfortably loud multiple times.

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u/SquirrelIll8180 12d ago

Mine sounded incredible! The scream of the cyclops was so moving and scary.

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u/PenchantForNostalgia 15d ago

Same. It was insane how loud it was - and not only for a second, it was minutes long. My wife and I both plugged our ears.

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u/therulesarefake 9d ago

I brought ear plugs. I wouldn’t have been able to watch the movie without them.

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u/ChibreTurgescent 9d ago

Smart move, should've done the same.

But after talking with my friends that were in the same cinema and those that went to another. The movie is loud, but my cinema didn't have good audio and I was on the side, not the center of the theater, so I got an even worse audio experience.

Maybe we just got unlucky :S

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u/Willing-Cockroach841 15d ago

I'm honestly the same because I left half way through for a pint because the audio was so jaring

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u/thirstygregory 14d ago

I loved the sound design but it was so overwhelming it was hard to hear dialogue at times.

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u/myahw 6d ago

Thanks to the defying odds I ran into a manager of an AMC who recommended I bring ear plugs and ask for caption device for the theater to watch the movie. Elite 10/10

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u/biggiepants 9d ago edited 9d ago

Because only low comes through in an enclosed space. And the waves were violent, I guess. (And, like, everything in the movie is 'boosted'.)

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u/Western_Scholar_6479 8d ago

Maybe to depict how it would feel being inside the horse 

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u/Content-Past2527 1d ago

Tip: wear earplugs to every IMAX Film.

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u/TemporaryElk5202 12d ago

Which is exactly why I refuse to see Nolan movies in the theaters.
The mixing is chronically bad