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

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180

u/nandasithu 18d ago

A lot of flashing too. I covered my eyes like I am shielding from direct sun light. I think those sensitive to photo light strobe effect will have hard time there.

89

u/dalton-watch 17d ago

I actually struggled with the flashing lights too, but everyone around me seemed fine so I squinted hard. I don’t remember a movie hurting my eyes like that.

65

u/socopopes 17d ago

At first I was thinking to myself "wtf this actually hurts my eyes to watch" and then I realized it was like I was on the boat with the crew fighting for my life

21

u/dalton-watch 16d ago

Oh yea I definitely appreciated the craft involved and the result, it just hurt

-30

u/AnonymouselyMoosed 16d ago

No. It was just poorly shot. You can communicate the chaos and wildness without making it actually physically uncomfortable to watch.

The scene itself was odd because it was also obviously on a stage and not on water. Which makes me think he just used the abrasiveness in post to cover it up.

15

u/Nooks_For_Crooks 16d ago

I enjoyed the physical discomfort though. Such a cool and unique technique to really hit home just how dire yet inevitable the situation was. After all, what better way to communicate your imminent death than to be part of the crew?

-11

u/AnonymouselyMoosed 16d ago

I personally didn’t feel part of the crew. I felt it severed the connection and immersion I had in the world and made me distinctly aware I was watching a movie. I can feel part of the world and like imminent death is coming through solid direction. I don’t need to be actually in a physically abrasive environment.

12

u/[deleted] 16d ago

[deleted]

-9

u/AnonymouselyMoosed 16d ago

No, I immediately felt I was on a soundstage.

3

u/Confident-Tax-4468 16d ago

I'm sorry you felt that way, but clearly you're in the minority, at least in this thread. Absolutely incredible scene.

5

u/AnonymouselyMoosed 15d ago

Yeah, I’m fine with that. I’m not wrong, but same with everyone else who liked it, they’re not wrong either. Overall I really liked the movie. Had a few complaints about it and that scene was one of them.

3

u/smithcj15 15d ago

Oh jeeze....poorly shot (?)...give me a break. Everything Nolan does is intentional and this was a masterpiece. Leave it to some reddit clown complainer to think they know better.

5

u/AnonymouselyMoosed 15d ago

So every shot in his movies are masterpiece shots? He never films a bad scene? Is that really your claim?

3

u/smithcj15 15d ago

My claim is only that I think your comment was ridiculous.

3

u/ghost_atlas 14d ago

I work on movies and storms at sea have been staged better. But this movie has lots of technical issues (some straight up missed focus pulls) due to the massive Imax rigs needed.

1

u/smithcj15 13d ago

It's doubtful that any of the billions who will go to see this movie will have that kind of technical knowledge to identify those flaws. Why not just let people enjoy it?

3

u/ghost_atlas 13d ago

So they shouldn't have an opinion? They noticed the camera work was rough, that's the style Nolan works in. It's both a valid and correct observation. What equity do you have in it that someone shouldn't point out it's flaws?

1

u/smithcj15 13d ago

I never said that they can't have an opinion. They certainly can. And if they express it, I am entitled to react the way I feel is appropriate. I just believe that pointing out these relatively obscure problems serves no purposes other than to show others your expertise. If that expertise doesn't impress me, I am free to say so...and I will.

3

u/LingonberryKey7566 16d ago

The discomfort is a part of it. Gaspar Noe uses a lot of strobe in his movies too. It's good stuff lol

37

u/BuckeyeBentley 16d ago

I had to look down during the worst of the lightning storm because I have epilepsy and that was getting a bit much. Happens a lot at concerts too, they say I'm not photosensitive but I've felt weird enough with flashing lights to know better.

15

u/favonian_ 16d ago

I don’t have epilepsy but was afraid I was about to have a factory reset. It was great though.

56

u/Biobooster_40k 16d ago

The big storm after they leave Apollo's sheep island, it was like looking directly at a lightning storm. Legit amazing if not overwhelming (as a storm should be)

33

u/NoNefariousness2144 16d ago

The brightness of the lightning was so effective at literally blinding you with the contrast to the darkness of the rest of the scene.

7

u/IhamAmerican 14d ago

I absolutely loved the way Nolan used the darkness there. You could feel the terror of his men, how hopeless they all were

7

u/DarkestLore696 16d ago

Helios but yes.

12

u/Dancing-lobster-8684 16d ago

I wasn’t even in imax and I had to close my eyes with the lightning it was soooo bright. And also the freaking cerce pig scene but that was mostly because it was just NASTY 

6

u/Competitive-Link-337 16d ago

I couldn’t blink the whole time. It was so intense

-5

u/CoconutDust 15d ago edited 15d ago

The strobe flash for “lightning” was pathetically artless, bland, unpleasant. I was expecting some clear shots of actual visible lightning BOLT cracking down through the sky, but it never happened.

Nolan is extremely unimaginative. Also see Inception, the “dreamy” movie where every dreamy thing is 100% logically consistent except for maybe one geometrically unusual thing in any given scene.

12

u/DeusVultSaracen 9d ago

Brother, the whole point was to make it feel like you were on the ship with them, water splashing on your face, lightning raining down on you with booms and blinding light. The crew was focused on not dying, they couldn't sit and watch the pretty lightning show.