The Odyssey ★★★★★

Released: 17 July 2026

Director: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Himesh Patel, John Leguizamo, Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton, Elliot Page, Robert Pattinson

Harbingers of the apocalypse. Visions of a future engulfed in flames, leaving the land in ruins for generations to come. Director Christopher Nolan has long been horrified by the concept of helplessly watching the world burn, yet not even his inquisitive take on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer could quite translate what it feels like to experience the last sunsets of a dying Earth. With his monumental adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey, Nolan has finally faced the harshest phenomenological question — and crafted his magnum opus that will withstand the passage of time.

“Defy the gods” reverberates like the mantra of this colossal reworking, inspired by Emily Wilson’s acclaimed translation. Notably, though, the gods themselves here are nowhere to be found: Nolan’s vision is one of an intimately human passage, the journey of Odysseus made into an austere homecoming of a man shattered by his own ideas. This is a stark departure from the way Homer described gods’ rule over men, and one that feels indispensable for how Nolan positions grounded parallels between the mythos and the moral dilemmas of mortals.

Nolan’s Odysseus, portrayed by the contemplative Matt Damon, is a self-searching leader led astray by the sum of his actions. It’s a curious divergence from the source material that echoes Piavoli’s Nostos: The Return, another adaptation of Homer’s poem that focused on the troubled mind and its inability to “return home”. Damon’s Odysseus is haunted by the memories of destruction he caused, the gift of the Trojan horse set ablaze in a city of culture and immeasurable beauty.

If Oppenheimer questioned the uncertain future, The Odyssey sees the world in the midst of an ongoing apocalypse, positioning its distinctly modern take on PTSD against the backdrop of ancient Greece. It’s a gamble that pays off tenfold when seen through the prism of ethical quandaries beyond the walls of Troy and the doors of an IMAX cinema, rendering the film’s ending as something quite wide-ranging, enduring, and suitably terrifying.

By depicting Odysseus as a guilt-ridden warrior returning home, like some kind of sword-and-sandal Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Nolan displays a conscience that reaches beyond the customs of divine interventions and traditional morality plays. Much has already been said about the colossal practical spectacle and Hoyte van Hoytema’s IMAX 70mm photography that gives the film its textured look, but all those aspects only further complicate the ethical questions at the centre. It’s entertainment that feels more grim with each attempt to psychoanalyse it, every sequence of sword fighting becoming a testament to Nolan’s indifference towards flashy fight choreography in favour of clinical brutality.

Could one find salvation after becoming the designer of an apocalypse? Is there a world where making amends could be a matter of simply venturing out and honouring the promises you once intended to keep? Contrary to what some may think, Nolan is far from a nihilist. His vision for the future of Odysseus is one of solace, inner peace in the world that’s about to tear at the seams and cease to exist. All it takes is returning to yourself and the woman you love so deeply, you’re willing to cross the seas and anger Poseidon — just for a chance to chase the escaping sun one last time.