r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 10h 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

1.8k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

3.0k comments sorted by

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1.1k

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 10h ago edited 10h ago

Odysseus's monologue of confessing his guilt for his deception and violating Zeus's law was quite emotional and seeing the reason why Athena kept appearing to him in that form was the heartbreaking cherry on top that made me shed a tear

432

u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran 10h ago

I was really impressed with the way that scene just lays out all of the themes of the movie without ever feeling like it's hitting you over the head with it

190

u/TheJoshider10 10h ago

In a movie that intentionally avoided too much exposition and explanations that moment could have easily backfired but thankfully it ended up being one of the strongest scenes.

•

u/chlfg 4h ago

Eh idk the beginning was really exposition heavy with 10 mentions of Zeus’s law and constant explaining of it

4

u/AltL155 6h ago

For the guy who wrote Inception and Interstellar to make this is absolutely insane. Nolan shook off the weight of trying to over explain his movies with Tenet and The Odyssey is him working at the height of his powers.

•

u/megamantiss 1h ago

In a movie that intentionally avoided too much exposition and explanations

I walked away with a totally different impression especially during the first third or so of the movie.

There was so much exposition by characters explaining things to each other that it was making me skeptical about the rest of the movie.

68

u/Gunther_21 10h ago

I mean Zeus' law is referenced like 15 times so not exactly subtle. Same with the sea peoples.

15

u/DustyDGAF 9h ago

As soon as the town burns itself down rather than give anything to the Sea People and the dude just looks at em like yeah dude you. You suck. Fuck you.

It's blatantly obvious who the bad guys are immediately. They aren't trying to go home. They're trying to be monsters.

33

u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran 9h ago

I don't think there's any stretch of this movie where they go more than 10 minutes without mentioning Zeus' law. It coming up a couple of times in that scene was kind of par for the course

7

u/Gunther_21 9h ago

With it mentioned so often, it felt like I was getting hit over the head repeatedly. But maybe Nolan wanted it to be obvious to the audience?

5

u/xXxDarkSasuke1999xXx 7h ago

To me, Nolan's most defining characteristic as a director is hitting the audience over the head and making the themes as obvious as humanly possible.

-4

u/Sagemel 9h ago

From the writer that brought you such gems as “You are Odysseus. You are my father”

16

u/SportsMOAB 8h ago

Didnt feel like an out of place reaction there. The line is fine

5

u/CaptainOberynCrunch 6h ago

"Is this some kind of Bronze Age collapse?"

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u/Feltrin 3h ago

That got a laugh out of me

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u/ikan_bakar 2h ago

Homer had such a way with words

19

u/RamaAnthony 9h ago

It was hinted when they pillage the village where the old men warned about the path they are headed because they are afraid of "men from the sea", and Circe conversation about the nature of Oddyseus's men, but then the monologue at the end brings it all together.

2

u/HooftotheHead 9h ago

Yeah I reckon you must’ve dosed off a couple of times…

•

u/glockobell 4h ago

It’s also impactful because it does add a level of ambiguity on whether the gods exist in this world or not.

Was Athena really appearing to him or was it his psyche emerging and using that poor girl he saw murdered as a vessels

•

u/1mplication 1h ago

Yeah, that could have gone wrong. Flashbacks to the Hathaway scene in Interstellar where she explains love as a force above all.

But all I saw here was a broken man finally explaining the source of his guilt and shame. Really well done.

123

u/SellingStolenStereos 10h ago

I violated Zeus’s law, now watch me do it again

64

u/Libra_Zebra 10h ago

In for a penny, in for a pound.

20

u/SellingStolenStereos 10h ago

‘Zeus could’ve killed me 10 times over, don’t think he gives a fuck about guest right’

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u/taikuh 5h ago

Go big or go home.

99

u/ambivalenteh 10h ago

Because he was already damned by breaking it the first time. He was using the tainting of his soul to shield his son and nation at least in this small say from the broader chaos his norm breaking had unleashed.

8

u/make_love_to_potato 6h ago

Didn't Leguiziamo's character also mention that the suitors were all taking advantage of Zeus's law and hijacking/corrupting it's meaning to take advantage of the family.

4

u/We_ReallyOutHere 6h ago

Heroism via villainy. The prototypical antihero baby

4

u/cockvanlesbian 9h ago

Nah, those guys weren't guests. They tried to took over his kingdom and kill his son. 

188

u/wumbotwerk 10h ago

Best scene of the film for me. Amazing 3rd act

98

u/chizzmaster 10h ago

For me, it's between that and the Hades scene. Elliot Page killed it

16

u/atclubsilencio 8h ago

Absolutely Page’s BEST work in a long time, and perfect casting on Nolan’s part. That Hades sequence was perfection.

12

u/heebs387 7h ago

I find it funny that all the right wing chuds were furious about Elliot Page being cast as a Spartan warrior and how unbelievable that is. When the entire story for that character is that they aren't supposed to look like a warrior at all.

•

u/singh-ularity 2h ago

It's the same dumb criticism as Zendaya getting cast for Athena, but it turns out her face is not actually Athena's

12

u/rs_alli 8h ago

Standout performance for me. That scene was so well done. Legit my favorite part of the whole movie.

7

u/punisherchad 8h ago

The imagery for that scene was incredible.

2

u/punisherchad 8h ago

I don’t and never have liked that actor pre or post Elliot. In this movie PHENOMENAL.

-35

u/KawhiDollaSign 9h ago

Was the worst part of the movie for me. Just don’t think he’s a good actor. Came across as very whiny when it should’ve been noble.

41

u/xaeru 9h ago

Actor has scene where he needs to whine, people complain he was whining.

-26

u/KawhiDollaSign 9h ago

Actor does bad job acting. People complain

25

u/leftysarepeople2 9h ago

He was whining, he wanted the truth. But that doesn't mean it wasn't well acted.

-11

u/KawhiDollaSign 9h ago

And we can disagree on that

5

u/KaiBetterThanTyson 9h ago

lol outing yourself like this, pathetic lol

0

u/KawhiDollaSign 9h ago

Dunno what this even means

5

u/fiskeybusiness 9h ago

Damn near perfect third act, couldn’t believe it was still building even after the Troy flashback

9

u/stallionsRIDEufl 9h ago

My only nitpick was the 3rd act had two 'one guy keeping a group at bay' trope scenes but other than that I have no notes.

8

u/_BLACK_BY_NAME_ 9h ago

Almost like it was following the novel, weird.

7

u/stallionsRIDEufl 9h ago

I understand it's how the story goes but it's one of my film pet peeves. At the end when he first starts shooting arrows and 30 guys are just running around in the background it looks a little goofy.

4

u/sowaffled 7h ago

Nolan’s fight scenes are the weakest parts of his movies IMO so I fully expected the same here. The part where Odysseus sledgehammers one of the guys with the tied up axe was really satisfying though.

5

u/HilariousScreenname 9h ago

Nah Im there with you. I wish they had showed some of the guys showing thier loyalty to Odyssyus would have helped fight so they could give the dudes running around in the background something to do.

•

u/kruzeiro 5h ago

If I remember correctly, in the poem it was Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumaeus, another herder whose name I can't remember, and Athena as Mentor, all in full gear, against the suitors that don't have any weapons.

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u/edicivo 2h ago

For me it was Circe. That is what I'll most distinctly remember from this one. But there are a lot of good options.

128

u/NotAnotherFriday 9h ago

I don’t cry much at films, but the reveal of Athena in the monologue, along with Hathaway’s delivery of “you’re the men on ships?” that they’ve been so scared of, broke my freaking heart.

•

u/tuttleslamjam85 5h ago

Are they really the "men on ships" of the stories people keep hearing? I didn't quite know how to interpret that line.

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u/Shrezz336 5h ago edited 3h ago

The siege of Troy and the entire war basically led to the myth of an army of "soldiers from the sea" which pillaged and plundered villages. Throughout the entire film, Odysseus and Penelope believe that he has to return home before the "soldiers from the sea" arrive. After all that Odysseus goes through the story of the film, he finally understands that it was his own army (and many others) that created the myth.

•

u/edicivo 2h ago edited 34m ago

In terms of this story, yes. Odysseus essentially causing his own problems is a main theme of this story that starts with him breaking Zeus' Law at Troy. Him unknowingly being the very thing threatening destruction to Ithaca/civilization lines up with that.

In terms of real history, no.

•

u/Captn_Platypus 2h ago

Its the army that scattered and raiding villages along the way to survive as they head home. Like how Odysseus did when he reached the first village

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u/imperatrixderoma 4h ago

No, they actually aren't (probably).

The sea people is an actual historical concept about people who basically ended the bronze age via pillaging and destroying places along the Mediterranean.

They likely came from Europe, and they did go relatively east so maybe actually.

Troy is in Turkey so it's possible.

•

u/HockeyKelly5 1h ago

Well now I feel stupid because I fully thought that Troy was actually in Greece 😂

•

u/AzureNinja 1h ago

It made sense to me that on top of the Trojan war survivors who spread the story, and the remaining armies of Greeks going home who probably pillaged made the rumor of the sea people.

But I think it was the Trojan horse deceit that lead to the fall of the Bronze Age, at least in the story. 

77

u/WoahBenny23 10h ago

genuinely a beautiful moment and personally i think nolan’s most impactful scene that he’s made so far

(Edit) yes even more then the crowd scene from Oppenheimer

5

u/hithere297 8h ago

nothing tops the Oppenheimer crowd scene for me. I get chills just thinking about it!

2

u/heathmon1856 7h ago

I got it on 4 k blu ray and haven’t watched it yet. Tempted to start tonight but I couldn’t even listen to a podcast on the ride home. Can’t really consume any media after seeing Odyssey.

23

u/Prophet92 10h ago

That whole sequence just had me completely glued to the screen

157

u/jburd22 10h ago edited 9h ago

It's partly why casting known names with a movie like this is so key. That way when you cut to Zendeya in the sacking of troy for like half a second it hits you like a sledgehammer.

171

u/damnyoutuesday 10h ago

After watching it, casting the known names/faces was almost a necessity due to the number of characters and the fact all of the names were the original Greek names. I couldn't keep their actual names straight, but being able to recognize faces helped immensely

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u/braddeus 10h ago edited 10h ago

And Leguizamo was absolutely fantastic. I mean they all were, but as the moral center of the film he was the biggest surprise of the cast.

105

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 9h ago

Thank you - this is the first comment I've seen referencing Leguizamo and I think he should be getting mentioned more because he brought a lot of heart to the story. And we see Odysseus do a lot of questionable things throughout, but I feel it's through Eumaeus and Leguizamo's performance that we are able to understand that Odysseus is a good man.

28

u/cursdwitknowledge 9h ago

I thought leguizamo was a highlight of the film and I will be surprised if he’s not blessed with a supporting Oscar. That role felt like Michael Canes Alfred. Who also got snubbed.

5

u/We_ReallyOutHere 6h ago

Start the oscar campaign for supporting!

26

u/Brandon_Me 9h ago

I was quite surprised by him making the theater laugh near the end when he asks if Odysseus is dead.

12

u/atclubsilencio 8h ago

Leguizamo’s name should be on the posters with the rest of the cast. Consistently underrated actor, who has been around forever, and who never misses. He was a stand out.

7

u/bigjerfystyle 9h ago

Yes! I thought this was such a beautiful role for him. He felt like he was playing the old dog of a servant awaiting his master even more than the actual dog was. He had such beautiful physicality in this movie and I was just fully immersed in his emotions in every scene he played. It was really a special performance.

11

u/damnyoutuesday 9h ago

The fact that was Sid the Sloth blew my mind

5

u/pastybeachbabe 9h ago

You mean Luigi?

4

u/motes-of-light 7h ago

You mean Tybalt?

1

u/The_Broken-Heart 8h ago

Wait what???

2

u/damnyoutuesday 7h ago

Yeah homeboy voiced Sid the Sloth in Ice Age (I think he still does actually?)

3

u/thepolesreport 8h ago

Biggest surprise of the movie for me as well. He absolutely killed it in his role. Could feel his pride and anguish the entire time

2

u/leftysarepeople2 9h ago

Honestly didn't even place him until looking the cast up afterwards.

1

u/motes-of-light 7h ago

Only surprise for me was that he was in the movie at all. Leguizamo always brings it.

2

u/rhunter99 9h ago

Same. It was also hard for me to hear the names of the characters

54

u/Rman823 10h ago

I was thinking they must have just gave Zendaya this smaller role since she was there with Holland but the significance of that moment made it worth it.

•

u/pjtheman 3h ago

It's crazy how one scene (honestly one shot) completely changes your perspective on her casting. I went from "eh, she's fine i guess" to "holy fuck she was perfect."

14

u/crittercats 9h ago

That was the scene that really tied the movie together for me

11

u/NoDaddyNotTheBelt25 9h ago

I’m sure this movie is going to have a major impact on anyone that’s served in combat.

15

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 9h ago

Matt Damon was recently on Amy Poehler's podcast and discussed how one of the actors on the boat with him had served before and said that this film was the best depiction of PTSD

5

u/motes-of-light 7h ago

That's the whole movie, losing yourself at war and having to find your way back home again. I'm off again on again with Nolan, but he did good.

3

u/heathmon1856 6h ago

His return was so fucking powerful. I’m just blown away by this whole story.

8

u/mcinmosh 7h ago

Came here to find a thread talking about this. The Zendaya thing fucking nailed it. The whole time you think she is the only God he physically sees, but you then realize it was just the form she was taking. Powerful.

6

u/rhunter99 9h ago

It was fantastic. The full horror hitting him and what he had done

6

u/Churchill_Buys_Calls 9h ago

I was completely moved to tears during this scene and during his retelling of the fall of Troy and seeing the young girl who he envisions as Athena after she's killed.

AMAZING film making.

•

u/Concurrency_Bugs 5h ago

I wasn't sure if zendaya being beheaded was just symbolism of the statue being beheaded or if it was real

6

u/wild_h0rses 9h ago

This also could have been a speech by Oppenheimer… a true sequel

5

u/Vladmerius 9h ago

This is the best third act Nolan has ever done and it had me genuinely emotional. Definitely shed a tear. 

4

u/Diglett3 7h ago

honestly that scene felt like something Nolan’s been building to his entire career

5

u/doctorhoohoo 9h ago

I thought it was good, but they definitely made him way more honorable and remorseful for the movie. They showed him barely participating in the slaughter, and left out the whole thing where he kills the baby prince at Troy.

I get it, he has to be more sympathetic for the movie, but it was a bit hard to swallow.

4

u/Foolish_Optimist 7h ago

I’m also a little torn that they left out the conversation scene with Polyphemus the Cyclopes.

On one hand, the lack of communication makes Polyphemus far more Eldritch and horrifying, on the other, we don’t bear witness to Odysseus’ arrogance in full.

•

u/doctorhoohoo 1h ago

I agree. My teenage son read the Odyssey in school recently and was also bummed that the "nobody" bit wasn't there. In general I felt that they didn't completely sell Odysseus as the super wily and crafty guy we know him to be.

3

u/misterbutters94 8h ago

That whole sequence broke my heart

3

u/JasonAnarchy 7h ago

Yeah it adds this great layer to Odysseus where he's a haunted man the whole movie.

3

u/Orlandogameschool 7h ago

Nolan and co had to be trying to pay homage to “Saturn devours his son “ painting with the cyclops right?

Holy shit that scene was insane

•

u/Ulura 5h ago

I wasnt really buying Zendaya as Athena much, she looked too young, and the outfit didn't scream "Goddess or stratergy and war". But then I did a total 180 when I realised it was Athena using the face of one of her slaughtered priestesses to remind Oddy about what he'd done.

•

u/pjtheman 3h ago

That scene changed my perspective on Zendaya's casting. For the whole movie, I thought she was fine, but I wasn't really getting "immortal goddess with millenia of wisdom" from her.

But then it turns out she's just appearing to Odysseus in the form of an innocent girl whose death he failed to prevent as a manifestation of his guilt/ ptsd, and my jaw dropped. Great casting and great acting. Zendaya can bring the fucking heat with the right director.

•

u/baberlay 2h ago

Damon performed that monologue beautifully. I was really unsure about his casting but he portrayed the character with tremendous pathos and was far more believable than I expected.

•

u/Chainsaw-Bear 2h ago

Nolan got me tearing up over the use of the Trojan Horse, wtf 😭

•

u/ChrisEvansFan 1h ago

Such a moving scene and the shot to Athena crying.

3

u/suppadelicious 8h ago

The shot of her held down then the cutaway to the statue being beheaded? Genius.

1

u/my_eyeball_is_square 7h ago

This is my favourite scene.

1

u/Tanprints 6h ago

I wish the movie had ended with that whole sequence somehow

•

u/spongebobisha 5h ago

Especially when Penelope gasps ands says “You’re the invaders from the sea?!”

•

u/teach42 46m ago

That was one of the only scenes that I felt a true emotional investment in the movie. That and Elliot Page in Hades. We commented about how after death upon death upon death, we never actually FELT anything emotional.... but his recounting that night was BRUTAL. If he gets an Oscar nod, it is 100% due to that scene.

•

u/kyon-kyonthecat 8m ago

One of my favorite scenes! I cried like a baby on this scene haha and I feel like I'm the only one crying on that moment. But no regrets! I love every detail of that scene.

-6

u/Trouble_some96 8h ago

This scene (visuals aside) undermined the entire film as adaptation. There is no sense in Homer that Odysseus is guilty about anything. I understand why Nolan did it - a hero who rapes, pillages, and lies as a matter of course would be utterly alien to a modern audience. It’s a vicious story about a cunning man returning home & reestablishing order with almost ecstatic violence. If I could change anything I would completely excise this monologue, and seriously tone down the “Zeus’ law” stuff. The issue is hospitality toward strangers, not “treat others as you’d like to be treated” which is strictly a Christian/post-christian notion.

13

u/OnDeafEars904 8h ago

No, the law is more really asking you to see divinity in your fellow man. And its a 3000 year old story. Homer, if there is a single Homer, told the story all his life orally and it changed every time.

-2

u/Trouble_some96 8h ago

I didn’t mind most of the changes, just those that replaced Homeric moral concerns with modern ones.

11

u/OnDeafEars904 7h ago

That was always going to happen. It'd also be stupid to tell the story about ancient concerns instead of modern concerns. That's the whole point of adapting such an old story.

•

u/Chab00ki 3h ago

But you are the one who is assuming that people 4000 years ago didn't have complex thought, morality, concience. It's a story that has been filtered down for 4000 years. It is at its most basic characterization wise. Nolan embraced a human depiction.

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u/Trouble_some96 3h ago

I liked the film overall.

I’m saying that Greek morality was very different to ours. The ability to wreak violence on other peoples and one’s enemies was considered an unequivocally desirable trait - we don’t share that intuition. Modern audiences prefer guilt-laden heroes and that’s fine, but to cast Odysseus that way changes the moral core of the story. It’s a fundamental retelling, not a superficial change.