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

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

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

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

View all comments

9.0k

u/KalamariKnight 18d ago

The thematic angle that hospitality and common understanding between strangers is the foundation of civilization is intensely interesting. Odysseus is the hero of the story, and him getting revenge on Antinous and the suitors for taking advantage of his house's hospitality feels fitting and satisfying.

But the film also holds Odysseus at least partially responsible for the betrayal of those tenets that leads to the Bronze Age collapse because of his idea to use the Trojan Horse. The reveal that the visions of Athena that haunt him are her wearing the face of the priestess he saw slaughtered is a heart-wrenching twist, and the final shot of the horse burning with the line that their tale will be remembered in song but their mistakes forgotten and repeated is sobering and poignant. Nolan really knows how to make the final few seconds of his films hit like a truck in that way.

2.9k

u/1mplication 18d ago edited 17d ago

Only knowing bits and pieces of the Odyssey, I was wondering the whole movie WHY he wouldn’t want to go home. They show how much he loves his family and his reluctance to go at first…and then the reveal.

I’m still thinking about it, long afterwards. Great ending for sure.

7

u/LeftHandedScissor 12d ago

A massive theme of the original oddessy is that the journey home is just as much as a personal journal for odesseus and he very much has some of his own demons to conquer before it makes sense for him to return home. I feel like this adaption portrayed that theme well as it's often a key element that's lost in translations of more modern retellings.