I’m not even going to pretend to remember the last time I read the actual “Odyssey” epic myth by Greek poet Homer.
But, I’m sure it was sometime during high school or early college and I have since come across plenty of pop culture references in the meantime.
Still, I’ve been curious to finally catch it on the big screen – so I did last weekend!
If you’re wanting some 100% semblance of Ancient Greek accuracy, then you’ll be disappointed.
However, the juxtaposition between Odysseus’ journey and what’s happening back home in Ithaca makes for something uniquely woven together and well worth seeing in theaters.
Not to mention, the locations are gorgeous and a slew of talented actors and actresses bring the myth’s main characters to life.
Odyssey is an action fantasy film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who produced it with his wife Emma Thomas.
It stars an ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Ryan Hurst, and Charlize Theron.
The film is rated R for violence and some language and it clocks in at 173 minutes long.
Ithaca is 20 years bereft of its king Odysseus (Damon), who never returned from the Trojan War.
Several suitors, including nobleman Antinous (Pattinson), aggressively court Odysseus’s wife Penelope (Hathaway) to claim the throne from Odysseus and Penelope’s son Telemachus (Holland).
Only Penelope, Telemachus, and half-blind servant Eumaeus (Leguizamo) still believe Odysseus will return.
Penelope tells Telemachus she fears attacks by murderous “people from the sea” who violate Zeus’s law - the mutual respect between guests and hosts.
Initially after leaving Ithaca, Odysseus and the Greeks spent ten years besieging Troy.
Odysseus masterminds a plan to hide inside a large wooden horse to sneak into Troy, with Sinon (Page) left behind to present the horse as a gift.
Sinon is killed, but the deception succeeds; the Greeks open the gates for Menelaus’s (Bernthal) older brother Agamemnon (Safdie) to sack Troy and retrieve Helen (Nyong’o).
Agamemnon and Menelaus return home early, while Odysseus’s army, including second-in-command Eurylochus (Patel) end up following a slower route.
When searching an island for supplies, they are trapped in a cave by the cyclops Polyphemus, who feasts upon the soldiers.
Eventually, they blind Polyphemus and escape, only to hear him cry out to his father Poseidon which leads to the crew suffering harsh sea conditions.
They later land on Aeaea, where giant Laestrygonians kill most of their party.
In the present, Telemachus travels with his teacher and bodyguard Mentor (Hurst) to Menelaus – now King of Sparta - to discover his father’s whereabouts.
Antinous learns this and conspires with other suitors to kill Telemachus upon his return and plunder Ithaca.
Menelaus and his wife Helen express uncertainty about Odysseus’s fate but offer Telemachus stories about him.
While Oysseus continues struggling to remember his life before meeting Calypso, he recalls that after fleeing the Laestrygonians, the survivors left Odysseus with their ship as they seek refuge with the witch Circe (Morton) who turns them into pigs.
After Odysseus persuades her to change his men back, Circe warns that to reach Ithaca, Odysseus must cross Oceanus into Hades.
Even though it took Odysseus more than 20 years to get home, at least you only have to sit through roughly three hours to watch it!
Outside of that, there’s plenty of action and intensity to be had – so, don’t’ take my word for it – just go watch The Odyssey now!
