{"id":2047507,"date":"2026-07-15T16:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2047507"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:00:16","slug":"the-odyssey-review-cinema-may-have-peaked-with-christopher-nolans-blockbuster-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2047507","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Odyssey\u2019 review: cinema may have peaked with Christopher Nolan\u2019s blockbuster epic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Odyssey.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-3332206\" class=\"post-3332206 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_71 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Odyssey-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"The Odyssey review\" title=\"The Odyssey\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Matt Damon in &#8216;The Odyssey&#8217;. CREDIT: Universal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_72\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_73  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_75  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>Reviews<\/span><span>Film Reviews<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_77 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_77\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">\u2018The Odyssey\u2019 review: cinema may have peaked with Christopher Nolan\u2019s blockbuster epic<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_78 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_78\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Featuring a star-studded cast and towering set pieces, this mind-boggling adventure should be seen on the big screen<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_review_overall tdi_79 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_79\">\n<table class=\"td-review td-fix-index\">\n<tr class=\"td-review-footer rate_stars\">\n<td class=\"td-review-score\">\n<div class=\"td-review-overall\">\n<div class=\"td-review-final-score\">5<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_80 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_80\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Paul Bradshaw<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_81 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-07-15T17:00:16+01:00\">15th July 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_82\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_83  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap big-read-dropcap\">T<\/strong>he word \u201cepic\u201d has been tossed around a lot over the last 3,000 years\u2026 Leave it to Christopher Nolan, then, to remind us what a <i>proper<\/i> epic looks, sounds and feels like. If <i>Oppenheimer<\/i> was a small story made big, <i>The Odyssey<\/i> is a big story made impossibly huge: delivering yet another landmark summer cinema event that might just be the director\u2019s most accomplished film to date.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: The best films of 2026\u2026 so far!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s certainly his most ambitious. Based on one of the foundational texts of Western civilisation, adapting <i>The Odyssey<\/i> is a bit like taking on The Bible. The story of a soldier, Odysseus (Matt Damon), taking the long way home from war to his wife (Anne Hathaway) and son (Tom Holland), Homer\u2019s original poem has provided the bones of basic storytelling that still shore up nearly everything we watch and read today.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Take away all the baggage though and <i>The Odyssey<\/i> remains a daunting text to adapt. It\u2019s a salty, sad, human story about getting old, having PTSD and living with your mistakes. But it\u2019s also about rolling around the Med with the boys, fighting giant cyclopes and meeting sexy sea witches.<\/p>\n<p>Just like an old Hollywood blockbuster, Nolan casts just about everyone on the A-list. There\u2019s Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong\u2019o and Zendaya. Samantha Morton, Charlize Theron and Benny Safdie. Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, Travis Scott and Elliot Page \u2013 all somehow standing out across the film\u2019s sprawling three-hour runtime beneath Damon\u2019s smart-dumb Odysseus.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Odyssey | Official Trailer (Universal Pictures) - HD\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z9kZNzmdSQk?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Always a master of structure, Nolan\u2019s real coup here is cutting the poem up into bits and piecing it all back together again. Set in \u201ca time of apparent magic\u201d, the story\u2019s most fantastic elements play out like fever dreams; mini movies told by a mad middle-aged man who might have been there or might just be struggling to accept his part in it all; a story as much about our own world as the ancient one.<\/p>\n<p>Skipping around Odysseus\u2019 mental crisis, the film\u2019s towering set pieces are every bit as impressive as you\u2019d expect from a director obsessed with using as many real multimillion-dollar props and special effects as possible. Beautifully shot with texture and detail \u2013 all on mammoth IMAX cameras \u2013 expect storms so powerful they make you feel seasick, at least two genuinely terrifying dips into horror and a full-on restaging of the siege of Troy. Swords are swung. Boats are rocked. Eyes are well and truly poked.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>As ever with Nolan, it\u2019s a typically marquee release \u2013 with only three cinemas in the UK showing the \u201cfull\u201d building-sized frame \u2013 and the effect of sitting in the biggest screen around is an elemental experience. Add in Ludwig G\u00f6ransson\u2019s visceral score and <i>The Odyssey<\/i> lands harder than even 3,000 years of cultural heft have a right to.<\/p>\n<p>Less a case of them not making \u2018em like they used to, watching the film leaves you with a sense that this sort of thing probably won\u2019t be made at all for too much longer \u2013 the sheer scale, ambition and weight of it seeming to belong to a different world already. It\u2019s hard to see how cinema can get much bigger than this.<\/p>\n<div class=\"game-review-verdict\">\n<h2>Details<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Director:<\/strong> Christopher Nolan<\/li>\n<li><strong>Starring:<\/strong> Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway<\/li>\n<li><strong>Release date:<\/strong> July 17 (in UK cinemas)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Anne Hathaway<\/li>\n<li>Charlize Theron<\/li>\n<li>Christopher Nolan<\/li>\n<li>Elliot Page<\/li>\n<li>Lupita Nyong&#8217;o<\/li>\n<li>Matt Damon<\/li>\n<li>Robert Pattinson<\/li>\n<li>The Odyssey<\/li>\n<li>Tom Holland<\/li>\n<li>Travis Scott<\/li>\n<li>Zendaya<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_88\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_89  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_93  vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_95  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_97 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>More Stories<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_98 td-pb-border-top td_module_flex_1--card td_module_flex_1--card--highlight td_block_template_2 tdc-no-posts td_flex_block\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_98\">\n<div id=\"tdi_98\" class=\"td_block_inner td-mc1-wrap\">\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">The Cure\u2019s Robert Smith is not looking forward to Chris Martin\u2019s World Cup halftime show<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Metal band Mutoid Man call out the official 2026 FIFA World Cup theme song for sounding \u201cfamiliar\u201d to one of theirs<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Shania Twain teams up with Queens Of The Stone Age\u2019s Josh Homme on rebellious new single \u2018Faded Blue Jeans\u2019<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Watch Phoebe Bridgers return to \u2018The Tonight Show\u2019 with tender acoustic version of \u2018Lost Boys\u2019<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Iron Maiden have sold half of the rights to their likenesses and their music to Pophouse<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div 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class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/article>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap big-read-dropcap\">T<\/strong>he word \u201cepic\u201d has been tossed around a lot over the last 3,000 years\u2026 Leave it to Christopher Nolan, then, to remind us what a <i>proper<\/i> epic looks, sounds and feels like. If <i>Oppenheimer<\/i> was a small story made big, <i>The Odyssey<\/i> is a big story made impossibly huge: delivering yet another landmark summer cinema event that might just be the director\u2019s most accomplished film to date.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: The best films of 2026\u2026 so far!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s certainly his most ambitious. Based on one of the foundational texts of Western civilisation, adapting <i>The Odyssey<\/i> is a bit like taking on The Bible. The story of a soldier, Odysseus (Matt Damon), taking the long way home from war to his wife (Anne Hathaway) and son (Tom Holland), Homer\u2019s original poem has provided the bones of basic storytelling that still shore up nearly everything we watch and read today.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Take away all the baggage though and <i>The Odyssey<\/i> remains a daunting text to adapt. It\u2019s a salty, sad, human story about getting old, having PTSD and living with your mistakes. But it\u2019s also about rolling around the Med with the boys, fighting giant cyclopes and meeting sexy sea witches.<\/p>\n<p>Just like an old Hollywood blockbuster, Nolan casts just about everyone on the A-list. There\u2019s Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong\u2019o and Zendaya. Samantha Morton, Charlize Theron and Benny Safdie. Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, Travis Scott and Elliot Page \u2013 all somehow standing out across the film\u2019s sprawling three-hour runtime beneath Damon\u2019s smart-dumb Odysseus.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Odyssey | Official Trailer (Universal Pictures) - HD\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z9kZNzmdSQk?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>Always a master of structure, Nolan\u2019s real coup here is cutting the poem up into bits and piecing it all back together again. Set in \u201ca time of apparent magic\u201d, the story\u2019s most fantastic elements play out like fever dreams; mini movies told by a mad middle-aged man who might have been there or might just be struggling to accept his part in it all; a story as much about our own world as the ancient one.<\/p>\n<p>Skipping around Odysseus\u2019 mental crisis, the film\u2019s towering set pieces are every bit as impressive as you\u2019d expect from a director obsessed with using as many real multimillion-dollar props and special effects as possible. Beautifully shot with texture and detail \u2013 all on mammoth IMAX cameras \u2013 expect storms so powerful they make you feel seasick, at least two genuinely terrifying dips into horror and a full-on restaging of the siege of Troy. Swords are swung. Boats are rocked. Eyes are well and truly poked.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>As ever with Nolan, it\u2019s a typically marquee release \u2013 with only three cinemas in the UK showing the \u201cfull\u201d building-sized frame \u2013 and the effect of sitting in the biggest screen around is an elemental experience. Add in Ludwig G\u00f6ransson\u2019s visceral score and <i>The Odyssey<\/i> lands harder than even 3,000 years of cultural heft have a right to.<\/p>\n<p>Less a case of them not making \u2018em like they used to, watching the film leaves you with a sense that this sort of thing probably won\u2019t be made at all for too much longer \u2013 the sheer scale, ambition and weight of it seeming to belong to a different world already. It\u2019s hard to see how cinema can get much bigger than this.<\/p>\n<div class=\"game-review-verdict\">\n<h2>Details<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Director:<\/strong> Christopher Nolan<\/li>\n<li><strong>Starring:<\/strong> Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway<\/li>\n<li><strong>Release date:<\/strong> July 17 (in UK cinemas)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/film-reviews\/the-odyssey-review-christopher-nolan-matt-damon-anne-hathaway-3957159&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-Odyssey.jpg&#8221;] Matt Damon in &#8216;The Odyssey&#8217;. CREDIT: Universal ReviewsFilm Reviews \u2018The Odyssey\u2019 review: cinema may have peaked with Christopher Nolan\u2019s blockbuster epic Featuring a star-studded cast and towering set pieces, this mind-boggling adventure should be seen on the big screen 5 By Paul Bradshaw 15th July 2026 The word \u201cepic\u201d has been tossed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2047507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2047507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2047507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2047507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2047507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}