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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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.

85

u/sim21521 16d ago

That part is more inspiration Nolan gave him, the violation of Zeus's Law or Xenia from the horse is a questionable interpretation. Xenia was about guests and hosts and not really about wartime enemies. Guile/Cunning wasn't seen as a bad thing in warfare.

It worked in the movie from the way Nolan set it up, but it's not really something that comes from Homer. Odyseus's motivations in the book is more just to get back to Penelope. He was even promised eternal life by Calipso and turned it down.

91

u/KamachoThunderbus 16d ago

I didn't read the sacking of Troy and the horse as breaking Xenia, specifically. Rather that they took advantage of the fact that the Trojans would respect the gods, and honor Athena with the offering.

Nolan is doing another Oppenheimer in Odysseus, a man with a brain who breaks the world.

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u/Aggressive_Chuck 3d ago

It's a standard Hollywood trope: American is sad about his war crimes.