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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351

u/brdperson1 10h ago

Holy smokes that cyclops scene.

I loved how we see his outline for just a moment before he covers the cave entrance and plunges all of Odysseus’ party into darkness. The sound design was perfect- the silence in the darkness followed by the gargantuan hand plucking screaming soldiers off, his unnatural roars and shouts of pain, his uncomfortably loud and earth shaking foot stomps. Also the reveal of his face being a twisted Picasso like disfigurement rather than a “classic” cyclops design was such a good reveal. Everything about that scene was as eery as it was intense- it seriously felt like Odysseus and his men were a bunch of ants trying to escape a brutal force of nature.

I loved the whole film but that scene alone is movie theater experience I will never forget.

51

u/atclubsilencio 8h ago

I felt bad for him though! He didn’t deserve that. The sounds of him chewing on the one guy (including a chunk of him following down his chin) is vividly playing out in my mind !

Odysseus didn’t need to shoot that second arrow! I liked the one guy asking if they should try reasoning with him and he replies “Yeah, I think we’re past that point..” but he did have a point ! They don’t even try! Dude was just hungry and wanting to sleep.

38

u/brdperson1 7h ago

That’s another thing I found really interesting - the cyclops was almost childlike. He was just herding his sheep, eating, and sleeping. There was no malice in his facial expressions or actions until he was attacked. The big guy literally just curled up in a ball and fell asleep despite all the humans who invaded his lair

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u/Feltrin 3h ago

Omg that makes me think of him holding his hand out to feel the sheep as he lets them out — was that him trying to soothe himself after being stabbed?

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u/edicivo 2h ago

No, he was expecting the humans to try to slip out. He couldn't see so he could only go by feel which is why the humans strapped straw to their backs.

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u/Throwaway_couple_ 1h ago

I think the way with the whole journey at sea being told through Odysseus's recollection, is actually how he is processing the trauma and violence he is responsible for. The journey is a psychic journey as much as it is represented literally. I think through this framing, the cyclops is really a construct for how the Greeks dehumanized, slaughtered and plundered an entire population as if they were a monolith.

He didn't have to shoot the cyclops in the eye. But he did anyway. Because war makes men cruel and senseless.

31

u/A_Toxic_User 8h ago

It actually felt like Nolan found a real cyclops hanging out somewhere and cast him in the movie

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u/CicadaEast272 1h ago

James Marsden did the performance capture for it /s

8

u/Capable_Butterfly_61 8h ago

yep. i’d go back to see it again just for that scene. haven’t stopped thinking about it. 

12

u/mrcarlita 7h ago

Pretty upset the cyclops didn't hang dong

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u/taikuh 5h ago

We've had one one-eyed monster. But what about the second one-eyed monster?

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u/A_Toxic_User 1h ago

Would’ve been too unrealistic

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u/Keeper-of-Balance 4h ago

That's in the Eggers version lol

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u/LAROACHA_420 4h ago

Man really thought we wete gonna get an outline or something!

5

u/dill1234 7h ago

So awesome. Also the way they used the lighting and framing when they came into the cave to make them look like ants

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u/is_that_you_harry 4h ago

Since you enjoyed that scene, FYI Nolan skipped one of the cleverest parts of the Cyclops episode. In the Odyssey, Odysseus first wins Polyphemus over by giving him strong wine until he gets drunk. Only then does he tell him his name is "Nobody". After they blind him, Polyphemus cries out that "Nobody is hurting me," so the other Cyclopes assume nothing is wrong and don't come to help. That whole sequence, the wine, the fake name, and the misunderstanding, is one of Odysseus' smartest tricks, and I think leaving it out loses a lot of what makes the scene so memorable.

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u/Misspocket_ 3h ago

I used to laugh when I read about Odysseus sneaking out under a couple of sheep when I was a kid! Maybe the source material is too funny for the tone of the film? May be a bit too Monty Python-esque lol

6

u/Mephariel 8h ago

Easily my favorite sequence in the film.

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u/blankedboy 3h ago

That was amazing, and one of a few scenes in the film where I’m genuinely excited to find out how the fuck they did that. Nolan’s ability to make the fantastical grounded but still awe inspiring was incredible.

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u/Hinnerum_1510 3h ago

Did no one notice how bad/weird the editing was in this scene? Felt like there was something missing, it ended too fast. And the whole dialogue wasn't included ("My name is Nobody"). The presentation of the cyclops was great though.