Before we begin discussing Christopher Nolan’s recently released film “The Odyssey” on July 17, it would be appropriate to briefly discuss the context and background of the film.
According to archaeologists and experts in Greek mythology, there is evidence suggesting that the Trojan War took place between 1184 and 1194 BCE. This war was fought between the kingdom of Troy and the kingdom of Ithaca. It has been established that Troy was destroyed and rebuilt at least nine times over a period of four thousand years. Today, Troy is located on the western coast of Türkiye (Turkey), about 30 kilometers from the city of Tevfikiye in Çanakkale Province, while Ithaca is a relatively small island in western Greece.
The war began when a prince of Troy, during a royal visit to Ithaca, fell in love with Helen, the wife of the brother of the King of Ithaca, and later abducted her and married her. It is said that Troy’s fortress was considered almost impregnable at that time. However, driven by revenge, the armies of Ithaca continued their siege for nine years.
Eventually, they built a massive wooden horse large enough to hold forty soldiers inside. They left this horse on the seashore and sailed away with their ships and armies, hiding just beyond the horizon. The people of Troy assumed that the Ithacan forces had finally accepted defeat and had left the horse behind as a gift or compensation before returning home.
They brought the wooden horse inside the city walls and celebrated around it throughout the day. When night fell, the Greek soldiers emerged from inside the horse, killed the guards, opened the gates of the city, and Troy was conquered. Afterward, the city, its fortress, and its inhabitants were systematically burned and destroyed. This wooden horse became known as the Trojan Horse.
This entire story was later narrated by the famous Greek poet and storyteller Homer, who composed his two great epic poems around 700–730 BCE. The events leading up to the fall of Troy are described in the poem called the Iliad, while the story of the Greek army’s return after the conquest, particularly the journey of its commander Odysseus, who wandered the seas for ten years, is described in the poem called the Odyssey.
Before analyzing any adaptation of the Iliad and the Odyssey, it is important to keep a few facts in mind:


1. Homer wrote his poems at least 450 years after the original events. During this period, approximately 15 to 18 generations passed, and the story was transmitted orally from generation to generation. Therefore, exaggeration and the addition of legendary elements are not unexpected.


2. During the era when Homer composed these poems, Greeks had an unwavering belief in supernatural gods and their invisible powers. These included:
Zeus — god of the sky, thunder, lightning, and law
Poseidon — god of the sea and earthquakes
Athena — goddess of wisdom and military strategy
Apollo — god of music, poetry, healing, and the sun
Ares — god of war
Artemis — goddess of hunting, the moon, and forests.


3. Storytelling was extremely popular among ancient Greeks. The wealthy enjoyed theatre and dramatic performances, while ordinary people gathered in city squares and public places to listen to poetry and storytelling. Storytellers often added extra dramatic elements and embellishments to make their narratives more entertaining. This was a common practice of that era — and, arguably, a practice that modern media still follows today.


For nearly 2,700 years, the Iliad and the Odyssey have been studied, discussed, and adapted countless times. In the twentieth century alone, they have been brought to the screen many times. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is the latest addition to this long tradition.
Review of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
When we watched the film on the big screen, the first thing that impressed us was its cinematography, created by renowned cinematographer and Nolan’s longtime collaborator Hoyte van Hoytema.
Since the film was shot in the IMAX format, watching it on a massive 60-by-80-foot screen, especially from the front rows of the cinema, creates a unique experience. The film truly feels larger than life.
Among the performances, the one that stood out was Anne Hathaway’s acting. Apart from her, almost all other performances — including that of the lead actor Matt Damon — felt merely average.
For this review, the film can be divided into three sections:


Positive Aspects


1. Shooting the film in the IMAX format was an excellent decision. It will leave a lasting impression not only on Christopher Nolan’s fans but also on general movie audiences.


2. Since IMAX cameras are physically large and produce considerable noise, Christopher Nolan had specially designed protective containers to house the cameras and used specially designed mirrors to capture many scenes. This technique had never been used before.


3. Nolan avoided the excessive use of green screens and CGI wherever possible. The ships shown in the film were actual ships, and they remained at sea for more than a month during filming. Where a 60-foot giant was required, animatronics were used to create a real physical giant, after which CGI and visual effects were added.


4. The film (and Homer’s original poem) symbolically explores male aggression, the strength of women’s roles, and the destructive consequences of war.


Negative Aspects


1. Christopher Nolan appears confused regarding the film’s language. On one hand, he shows characters wearing clothing, using utensils, and carrying weapons from three thousand years ago; on the other hand, these same characters speak modern American English, a language that is only around 250 years old in its current form.
At one point, a character uses words like “mom and dad.” In another scene, when a ship needs to be balanced by shifting weight to one side, a character says: “Three, two, one.”


2. The ship shown carrying Odysseus in the film is of a style that was developed by the Vikings more than 1,200 years after Homer’s era. Ships of this design and size did not exist during the Trojan War, which occurred roughly 1,800 years before Viking shipbuilding.


3. In one scene, John Leguizamo’s character, the blind friend of Odysseus, meets him after twenty years. The scene consists of only four frames: in three frames, Leguizamo’s nose appears dirty with tears, but suddenly in the fourth frame it becomes completely clean. Such continuity errors are unexpected from an experienced filmmaker like Nolan.


4. In a flashback scene showing Odysseus during the conquest of Troy, he is seen running through the burning city wearing black-laced running shoes. Historically, people of that era wore handmade sandals, even during warfare.


5. In one scene, a character refers to the Bronze Age, although terms such as Ice Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Industrial Age are classifications developed by modern historians, particularly in the 20th century.


6. During a scene where Odysseus is going to sacrifice goats on an island, the background music contains sounds resembling laser effects.


7. The helmets worn by Odysseus’s soldiers look like Batman-style helmets and appear to be made of plastic.


8. The editing of the film is quite weak. With better editing, the movie could easily have been shortened by at least 45 minutes. Due to the slow pacing, the film’s rhythm suffers. It is so slow that the first time I began to understand where the story was going, I looked at my watch and realized 35 minutes had already passed.


9. A character appears at the beginning and end of the film, repeatedly striking a wooden floor with a stick while chanting. Each time he strikes the floor, he hits it four or five times before shouting. On an IMAX sound system, this becomes almost a torture experience for the audience because the sequence continues for five to seven minutes at the end of the film without any real necessity.


10. Nolan deliberately removed important parts of Homer’s Odyssey, including Poseidon and the Cyclops’ grievances against Odysseus and the episode of the Sirens misleading his crew. For viewers familiar with Homer’s original work, these omissions are surprising.


11. Apart from one or two characters, very few performances stand out. Particularly, the acting of Tom Holland, who plays Odysseus’s son, appears extremely disappointing.


12. The casting appears influenced by modern identity politics rather than historical and geographical accuracy. Odysseus’s army includes Indians, Japanese, and Africans, which does not correspond to the geographical realities of that era.


Helen of Ithaca is portrayed by a Black actress, which does not resemble the appearance of ancient Greeks, who generally had Mediterranean brown complexions.


Conclusion


If you are not familiar with the historical and geographical background of the story, or if historical accuracy is not important to you, then the film’s IMAX grandeur and cinematography may provide a highly enjoyable experience.


However, if you are watching it as a historically faithful masterpiece of direction and acting, then it may not meet your expectations or satisfy your taste.


If the entire film is summarized in one sentence, it would be:
“Remove the labels of IMAX and Christopher Nolan from this film, and what remains is a below-average movie.”


Note: This review represents my personal opinion. Agreement with it is not necessary, and unnecessary arguments should be avoided.