The Odyssey (2026)

Going into The Odyssey, I had one major advantage: I wasn’t carrying decades of emotional attachment to Homer’s epic. While I knew the broad strokes of the story, this wasn’t one of those adaptations where I had a checklist of scenes I hoped would survive the transition to the big screen.

Nolan has earned the benefit of the doubt more times than almost any filmmaker working today. Whether he’s exploring dreams, time, space, war, or the creation of the atomic bomb, his films almost always leave me walking out of the theater feeling like I’ve seen something ambitious, even if I don’t love the film as much as others. That ambition is still present in The Odyssey, and there is plenty here to admire, but I don’t think this ranks among his very best work.

I enjoyed the movie.

I’d recommend people see it.

I just never found myself loving it.

Part of that comes down to the subject matter. Ancient mythology has never been a genre that naturally pulls me in, so the film was already asking me to invest in a world that isn’t typically my first choice. That’s hardly the movie’s fault. If anything, I was curious to see whether Nolan could make me care about a story that normally wouldn’t be on my radar.

The scale is enormous, the production is undeniably impressive, and the movie carries itself with the confidence you’d expect from a filmmaker operating at this level. It doesn’t feel small, and there are several sequences that remind you why Nolan continues to be one of the few directors who can convince studios to fund massive, original filmmaking.

Where the film repeatedly lost me, however, was during many of its action scenes.

I’m certainly no hand-to-hand combat expert, but several of the fight sequences felt surprisingly awkward. Instead of immersing me in the conflict, I kept noticing how choreographed everything appeared. The movements felt overly staged, almost mechanical, and there were moments that were unintentionally funny simply because they lacked the fluidity and intensity I expected.

That’s a strange criticism to level at a Christopher Nolan film because his action usually feels grounded, visceral, and immediate. Here, I found myself being pulled out of the experience multiple times, watching the choreography instead of believing the combat.

It’s one of the few times I can remember thinking that the action actually weakened the tension instead of building it.

Another point that many people have discussed is the runtime.

Yes, it’s a long movie.

Did it feel long? Absolutely.

Did it feel too long? Surprisingly, no.

I was certainly aware that I’d been sitting in the theater for quite a while, but I never reached the point where I found myself wishing the film would simply wrap things up. The pacing remains steady enough that even when individual scenes extend, the larger narrative continues moving forward.

Would I have complained if twenty minutes had disappeared in the editing room? Probably not.

At the same time, I also never felt like I was checking my watch.

The performances are consistently strong, and visually the movie is exactly what you’d expect from a production of this scale. Every frame feels meticulously crafted, and Nolan once again demonstrates why he’s one of the industry’s premier visual storytellers. Even when I wasn’t completely invested in what was happening, I appreciated the craftsmanship behind nearly every scene.

That’s ultimately how I feel about the movie as a whole.

I admired it more often than I connected with it.

After Oppenheimer dominated awards season, it’s impossible not to wonder whether The Odyssey will follow a similar path. My guess is that it will receive plenty of nominations. The technical achievements alone almost guarantee recognition in categories like cinematography, production design, sound, visual effects, and several others.

Whether it wins in the same overwhelming fashion is another question entirely.

Personally, I don’t see it happening.

Oppenheimer felt like one of those rare films where critical acclaim, cultural conversation, and awards momentum all aligned at exactly the right moment. The Odyssey is an impressive piece of filmmaking, but I don’t think it carries that same sense of inevitability. It feels more like a film that people will respect than one they’ll passionately champion.

That’s not a criticism so much as an observation. Not every Christopher Nolan movie has to redefine cinema.

Sometimes a very good movie is simply a very good movie.

If you’re already a Nolan fan, you’ll almost certainly want to see The Odyssey. If you’re interested in large-scale historical epics, there’s plenty here to appreciate as well. I walked out glad I’d seen it, and I suspect many people will have a similar reaction.