The Odyssey

The Odyssey Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o. Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Charlize Theron

Director: Christopher Nolan

What’s Good: The philosophies within and behind all the pageantry

What’s Bad: The length!

Loo Break: With such a length, only at your discretion!

Watch or Not?: Overall, of course!

Language: English

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 172 Minutes

User Rating:

The story is known. It is suitably modified to bring in or heighten certain aspects, like Zeus’ Law, a modification of the Greek concept of Zenia, that we must treat all human beings with respect, for even the humblest might be a god in disguise. Within that, we see a basically simple story of a warrior-sailor and his quest for home.

After the fall of Troy, Odysseus (Matt Damon), king of Ithaca, sets sail for home—but the journey stretches into ten grueling years. The sea god Poseidon, enraged after Odysseus blinds his son, the cyclops Polyphemus (Bill Irwin), curses him to wander the seas, battered by storms and mishaps galore.

And so, along the way, Odysseus and his crew face one trial after another. They escape, outwit, and resist various antagonists of varied hues (we don’t want to have spoilers here for those who must be a part of this experiential drama!). They resist the deadly song of the Sirens, with Odysseus lashed to his ship’s mast to hear their voices safely. They pass between the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, losing men to each. The sorceress Circe from Aeaea (Samantha Morton) even transforms Odysseus’ sailors into swine before becoming an ally. Odysseus also speaks with the dead, including the blind prophet Tiresias (James Remar) of the Greek ‘underworld’ (not crime-based, but simply a realm to which an individual goes after death), who warns him of dangers still to come.

One by one, Odysseus loses his companions and ships, until he alone survives, washing ashore on the island of the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron), who keeps him for six years before he is freed.

Meanwhile, in Ithaca, his wife Penelope fends off a horde of arrogant suitors who assume Odysseus is dead and vie for her hand and his throne. Penelope, in particular, has to deal with the brazenly sleazy and unscrupulous Antinous (Robert Pattinson). Odysseus’ and Penelope’s son, Telemachus, the prince of Ithaca, strongly believes his father is alive and searches for him or for any news about him.

Odysseus, on Greek King Agamemnon’s advice, now in disguise, finally reaches where Antinous’s men are set to kill his son. He kills them all. A svayamvar-like (!!!) ritual is finally being held for the future husband of Penelope, who announces that whoever can string Odysseus’s rigid bow and shoot an arrow in a specific way may have her hand. Naturally, only he can do that. And then, with Telemachus at his side, Odysseus slaughters the suitors in a bloody reckoning, reclaiming his household, throne, and family. But after this, again, like the Indian king Ashoka the Great, following the battle of Kalinga, there is something else in Odysseus’ mind!

The Odyssey Movie Review: Script Analysis

The script is written to accommodate the mammoth canvas and yet must stand on its own. And it does, though the epic length, as said above, could have been curtailed. Sure, some of the biggest classics made in Hollywood as well as India are all lengthy extravaganzas, and maybe I felt the running time’s lengthiness even more because the PR guys in their “wisdom” decided to forgo an intermission.

The script, as per director Christopher Nolan’s brief, also includes the many beliefs and philosophies from ancient Greeks and their mythology, many of which are congruent with even present-day Indian concepts like “Atithi Devo Bhava” (a guest is like God), family first, and the futility of war and violence. Odysseus has even been traditionally described as cunning, devious, complex, intellectually brilliant, and versatile, and Nolan makes him all that, along with his humanity and the twist at the end. Possibly, Indian screenwriters may have also looked Greece-ward for inspiration for their lost-and-found and father-son sagas.

The dialogues are neat, but too contemporary in their lexicon and spoken lingo. And that is a bit like inculcating Mumbai’s jargon in a North Indian film or Urdu (which is frequently done anyway!) in Hindu mythology. Guess this serves or heightens the ‘connect,’ but for authenticity, it was perhaps avoidable.

The Odyssey Movie Review: Star Performance

Matt Damon is all ‘glossy,’ if I may be permitted this little play of words! He sparkles and glimmers in what can even be termed a tailor-made (“sailor”-made?) character and role for him. Without going over the top, he brings out the finest nuances and emotions required for his complex role without seeming forced: a triumph indeed. The final point: as he himself stated in an interview, “The movies where I get to come home so far as Saving Private Ryan, Interstellar, and The Martian. So I’m happy to keep getting lost.” But he has truly ‘found’ a new dimension to his acting skill here.

The next best turn, for me, comes from the all-too-brief cameo of Samanth Morton as Circe. Tom Holland is excellent as Telemachus, while Anne Hathaway and Charlize Theron shine too. As Antinous, Robert Pattinson is in form, though he reminds us of Hollywood (and Indian!) villains from the 1960s and 1970s. But maybe that was the brief given to him! Himesh Patel, the only Indian in the cast, as Odysseus’ second-in-command, who is often nonplussed, is a perfect choice. Maybe I can single out Bill Irwin as Polyphemus here, but the rest of the cast—there would be too much space consumption here to list even the key roles!—is also great for their respective characters.