Ep. 19: THE ODYSSEY (2026) Review | Nolan Does It Again

Christopher Nolan returns with one of the year's biggest cinematic events.

In Episode 19, we share review of The Odyssey, discussing its ambitious storytelling, unforgettable performances, breathtaking technical achievements, and why we believe Nolan has once again crafted something truly special.

Whether you're a longtime Christopher Nolan fan or simply curious about one of the most anticipated films of the year, join us for an in-depth conversation celebrating one of cinema's most ambitious epics.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Cinephon Mine. My name is Miguel, and I have Nick here with me this evening to talk about the Christopher Nolan masterpiece that is the Odyssey.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

What were your initial thoughts?

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Well, I mean, this has to be like the most anticipated film of the year, right? And and to me, it did not disappoint. We've been waiting for this movie for like over a year now, since we've what seen the first teaser. Was it last year? I felt like it was last year. I mean, we saw an early screening uh in IMAX Monday night, and when I tell you that it's one of the most astonishing movie theater experiences I've ever had, I'm not even exaggerating, and I'm sure you feel the same way, Nick. But like there were so many countless moments during the film where I was like holding my breath. I'm sure you feel the same way.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

I think this, like, you know, sort of superlative gets thrown around a lot, is like this is what movies are for, like, this is what they're made for to tell stories in this way. But this is the epitome of that. It is a quintessential cinematic masterpiece. The writing, the acting, the visual spectacle, the sound, just the story. Even for a story that is so widely known and familiar and has been told countless times across centuries, it's an amazing feat and spectacle. For anyone to doubt that this could be pulled off is almost insane because we have seen Christopher Nolan's track record, um, and he's pulled off so many amazing and incredible stories, and um he's been he he just is so in touch with how a story can be told, who can deliver it in terms of who's acting in those different roles, um, when to dial things up and down and give us nuance or subtlety or when to go zero to 60 and give us a full action-packed moment. And this movie delivers on all of those fronts, and then some. I'm going to race back to the theater to see it as soon as possible. And I don't even want to see it in a smaller format than IMAX, but I will take anything I can get because it's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Yeah, it is, it truly is. And like for the creative liberties that Nolan took, I've never really had much use for fidelity as a measure of adaptation, especially with fiction, and especially with something as vast and contested as the Odyssey. I've always believed like a film is its own entity, and this is his version of the story, and what he assembled for all of us, it's extraordinary.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

I think something that should just be obvious to people, but clearly not based on some of the negative commentary um that you've already seen stirred up for frankly people who haven't seen the movie, um, for whatever reason have come to this preconceived notion of how certain things will play out. But the story itself, to assume that it wouldn't be contextualized in today's pluralist society and look and feel like the world around us is insane. That is what art is, is to interpret and reinterpret and retell and rewrite. And frankly, for a story like The Odyssey to translate, that's what this is. It's a translation for today's audiences in a format that didn't exist centuries ago, and we're lucky enough to live in a time where it can not only exist but be such a spectacle as it is, and we're interpreting it in modern society. It's crazy to me some of the hate that this film is getting already, especially around the casting from these absolute clown losers. They're so insane, they're stupid, they're freaks, um, and they're also racist.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Oh, yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

You can't pick apart some of the casting decisions on characters that are receiving five minutes or 10 minutes of screen time in a three-hour length runtime, and it be rooted in anything other than racism.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

And two.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

She probably deserved even more screen time than she received. It's crazy to me that that's even a conversation that's being had by losers in our comment section, other people's comment sections. And also, these people are the very sheeps that they're trying to preach that we are. Um, it's kind of ironic, but actually, I would challenge these people to go and see the movie because there's a very particular scene that reveals the inner truth of these men being absolute disgusting pigs. And I think that's who these people are that are commenting.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

These things they 100% resemble those people and calling people enjoying this movie as brainwash, as if like they're not the ones brainwashed, but hearing all these stories from whatever media they're consuming, and uh as if like they've seen the movie already and they have the right to tear it apart. It's it's truly insane to me.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Someone commented um that someone was portraying Troy, which is a city, so they have no idea what they're talking about. Well, yeah, I don't think we're even wasting our breath and commentary on this.

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah, let me read that comment actually.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

But I ended up We have to clown these people, they're they're awful.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

They said, Notice how none of these influencers are addressing the huge elephant in the room, which is the horrendous DEI casting of Helen of Detroit and Troy being played by a five-foot 100-pound chick. Troy. Troy's not a character.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

I mean, moving on though, as much as I I think there's so many great things to talk about that that's like a thorn in my side. So yeah. Um, yeah, I actually, before we even get into any of the narrative, I think one of the things that I want to um kind of address as like just an amazing feat that I thought, you know, I think there was like a time when shooting something in IMAX was very much seen as like a marketing gimmick or um, you know, just a ploy to get people in, you know, in the theater. Um, and obviously, you know, the live uh or I should say just movie theater experience over the past couple decades has obviously taken many turns um and seen many struggles. Um but obviously Christopher Nolan has been at the helm of leading that format specifically. And uh obviously we were fortunate enough to see the early screening in IMAX format, not 70mm, which I'm butt heard about, but we will get there at some point. The specific actions that were taken on the Odyssey to bring this to life fully in IMAX, which I believe is the first and only feature-length film fully shot in IMAX from start to finish. You know, I'm not a cinematographer, I don't know anything about like blocking characters and you know, rigging the camera and all of this stuff, but and and you know, controlling like the focal length and all of those things. It has to be an art as much as it is a science. Some of the shots that are pulled off in this movie, you would think it's like an iPhone or a portable rig, uh a handicam or something. They're moving through scenes and up and down mountain terrain and across ships and vast scenes, and it's moving in such a way that you would have no idea that the camera is occupying as much space as it is. I also know that they specifically modified the IMAX cameras for this film, um, and obviously going forward to produce less noise so that they can film the actors more intimately and kind of get it closer in their faces. And you know, it certainly paid off because we got a lot of close moments of you know, Penelope and Odysseus, or Telemachus and Penelope, or really all of the um kind of important characters. Um, we got some close shots and you can feel it. But yeah, I think just the fact that it's able to pull off such a grand scale for a story that requires that. Um, I don't know that I would have wanted to see this if it was only partly filmed in IMAX. It almost required it to be filmed entirely in IMAX format because it cannot be told if it's not occupying as much screen space as possible.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

And as much as I'm raving about this movie, like I'm still able to judge it objectively, you know, against like other films, also against like Christopher Nolan's like own filmography. I don't believe the Odyssey is perfect, I think it is a flawed masterpiece. And we also have to remember that Christopher Nolan is adapting one of the most complex pieces of literature ever written, and one that has long been labeled as unfilmable, but how he brought that to life is such an achievement in itself. Like specifically, I thought the first quarter of the film was just good. Then nothing truly special about it, in my opinion, but still very good. But it takes a turn when when Cersei shows up on screen, who was played by the always reliable, always great Samantha Morin. Uh, and from there on out, Christopher Nolan was operating in a whole different level. And as much as I wanted to do a bathroom break, really, there was not one scene where I felt like I could miss this.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

For a year that has been incredibly strong for horror films. That scene and sequence with Cersei is could stand alone as one of the most horrifying scenes in cinema history. And also such a feat that it was pulled off practically, I learned today, with basically no CGI. Oh wow that blew my mind, and apparently um received applause on set for some of the physicality that that scene required. Mind blowing. I mean, just mind blowing. And again, because it was shot in that IMAX format, you're just seeing so much detail at such a grand scale. It's a masterpiece. I do agree. Um, well, you know, I'm I think this movie will be interesting to see, not how it stands the test of time. I think it will for sure. Um, I think in terms of as you pointed out, some of the flaws. I I'm almost hesitant to call them flaws at this point. I mean, I think when you have something that performs so strongly, as I'm I I have to imagine the Odyssey will, then I think it makes some of the weaker points or moments more noticeable. Um, so you know what those are and how those endure to be seen.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

But when we say flaws, especially in the context of like Christopher Nolan's direction, it's so much different from like when we say flaws, like you know, when other filmmakers are doing it. For the most part, Christopher Nolan, when he directs, like there's there's some magic that you feel when you're watching his movies. And to me, that might be like it's because it's all subjective, right? Like that might have been absent for the first quarter of the film for me, even though the movie in itself everything was going right. There was no like there was no one scene where it was like, Oh, okay, what was that? It's just that thing that Jen Sequa that he has, and I wasn't feeling it until that scene, and from there on out after the Cersei scene, like it was just everything just felt so magical.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

You know, I also wonder, um, compared to really a lot of his other films, or maybe all of his other films um that kind of revolve around a central character, obviously, this one does as well, but I think the scope, not just of the narrative, but also the ensemble cast and needing to build those relationships and the background of all of those characters and just the history and um journeys that they're taking, maybe occupying so much of the screen time earlier in the film that maybe that's why it wasn't clicking quite as strongly until we get more of that um yeah, just oomph from the Cersei scene onward, because then we have some real threat and some real sort of direction. And we also see, you know, we saw before that some of the frankly more sci-fi elements and fantastical elements, which I also want to come back to. You know, we did see some of that prior, but it didn't really feel as tangible until the scene they encounter Circe and her sort of witchcraft. Yeah, but yeah, I did want to circle back on the fantastical elements because really we also haven't seen Christopher Nolan push himself in that direction fully, um, really at all, um, so far in his career. He's obviously tackled like superhero elements and illusion with the prestige.

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Prestige, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah. Um, and obviously, like added thriller elements, and yeah, he hasn't gone quite as far into the scope of something like the Odyssey, where it has giants, it has witches, it has giant whirlpools and gods, and you know, it's it's a lot more fantastical than really all of his other films, but I think it's executed in exactly a Christopher Nolan way where it feels as grounded in a possible reality as it could be.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

And going back to what you were just saying earlier about like people having issues with Nolan kind of like modernizing the story or translating it for like today's audiences. Like, I don't get that either because what he was trying to do here is for us to really connect with what the core of the story is. And the honest thing is not an easy story to love or understand, really. He allowed us to not just appreciate the story, but truly love like what the story is all about.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

I think something that is very prevalent in the books, and that's central to the plot is this notion of hospitality, and they use that word specifically, and then in the book in Greek, it's I believe Xenia is the word. Um, and that comes up often, and they also refer to it as Zeus's law is hospitality. Um, and it comes up really in almost every encounter. Um, it comes up with the suitors that have taken up place or residence in Ithaca, um, and they're basically being disgusting slobs themselves, and you know, dining and whining and all of these things, and causing all of this debauchery every night in Odysseus's home, um, and of obviously trying to eventually court and then marry Penelope to essentially take or usurp the throne from Odysseus or Telemachus. You have actually uh in the scene when they first encounter the the giant. Um, I think the movie doesn't quite portray that as as in depth as in the book. Um, but there's elements of welcome or hospitality in the cave that they encounter with um the giant as well. Obviously with Cersei, um where she's presenting them with food, but asking them to remove their weapons and armor. I mean, this is just a central theme to the book and the film. And I also just wonder in general, Nolan sort of choosing to adapt this film at this time where frankly we're dealing with larger issues around hospitality and who's welcome where, you know, I think that has to be a deliberate choice. And I think it's a smart one. I think it's pointed. There's no accidents there. And it's interesting that sometimes stories like this come together and all the cards fall in the right place. Again, we pointed out, you know, the technology of being able to shoot this fully in IMAX, you know, sort of being a prerequisite to film it. But I also just think sort of the general sense of, you know, how the world is currently. I think all of those things sort of predicated making that movie now. Yeah. And I think it's just all the more impactful for it. Um, I also think, you know, him making Oppenheimer when he did, that was no accident either. Um, so maybe he is being a little bit more autistic in his choices in terms of the messages he's trying to send to us. But, you know, I think he's obviously one of the most clever filmmakers to exist at that caliber. And yeah, I also, I mean, funny enough, is that's really also at the core of Odysseus's character is just his wiliness and cleverness. Um, that's how he is able to get through his journey and make it back home. Um, he wouldn't have been able to do that without being able to be more strategic and yeah, um just kind of have that strategic veteran mentality and forethought. And so maybe that's also part of the message is having to be more strategic around combating some of these issues, and whether it's through making art or interpreting it or living your life to the best of your ability and being kind and not racist and transphobic.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Yeah. So yeah. All right, let's talk about the performances because they're the cast is stack and the actors are so so good. Who's your MVP?

SPEAKER_01 19:06

It's really hard to say who my MVP would be.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Um it truly is. Matt Damon really surprised me here. He's always been very reliable. He's always he has a he is a really good actor. I just thought this role would have been like too big for him, but he really pulled it off.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

The fact that this is, you know, I mean, obviously, this isn't the first role we've seen him take where he gives us emotion, but also action and strength and kind of the brute force. Obviously, we've seen that side of Matt Damon plenty. You know, we've seen those like deep, rich emotional moments from him with Goodwill Hunting, all the way as early as that, sort of his like cleverness or sort of mystique and you know, just kind of shrouded energy with talented Mr. Ripley. This actually really underscores all of his talents. It's you know, it gives him that platform to exercise all of those strengths. Yeah, does he fall flat in any of them? No, not for me. Um I think are there like parts of it where you know he's a little bit stronger, um, for sure, but he's just such a modern man.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

I think that was like what I was worried about, but it was very good.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Another one that I want to mention, honestly, is um because I think just word of mouth and commentary I've seen online that I've seen more skepticism of was Tom Holland as Telemachus, and I was very pleased with his performance. Um he really gave us that charm and energy and youthfulness um and uncertainty. I feel like any young person has been there, especially in a difficult situation where you're not sure what outcome or what you know what what is your own journey, especially something as uh big of a trial and emotional uh hurdle as that. And I mean, I think you get all of that subtlety from him. I loved seeing his arc and like coming into his own strength, which was kind of his own epic journey. We get a very emotional uh and really just impactful and powerful moment with Odysseus and Telemachus at the end. Um, and I think those two actors specifically working together, it made that scene so much more impactful because they were operating at their highest level. Yeah, you can tell that Tom Holland takes his craft seriously. I think he wants to like learn from the best and be around the best, and he's doing it. I think someone else that's already in this film that has already been on that journey is Robert Pattons, and he continues to steal his scenes and in this one steal it in the most uh disgusting and unruly way. But I mean, that serves what exactly that character was doing.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

So he didn't play the most complex character, but no. It he did what he had to do and he was very good.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Yeah. But um I would say Samantha Morton playing CRC was probably the star of the show for me. Yeah. Um, you just get that sort of witchiness from her. Um it it you know, it just it's like a coldness, but you do get um glimpses through the cracks of um her motivations and why she is doing what she's doing, um, but only subtly. Um you get the sense that she really understood the assignment and like just I think again that character is so important because um, you know, we see the brute strength of Odysseus, and that's um obviously one of the the driving forces of that character, and we obviously, you know, you're seeing him coming off of this 10-year um fight in the Trojan War. So he's obviously a powerful general and leader. Um, but what I think makes Circe so much more impactful is because um, again, of that wiliness and strategy that you have from Odysseus, and she's probably the closest to actually cracking it because that's really what she is as well. She's also very strategic and clever in this kind of cold way. So she gets very close to really defeating him. Um and I think um, you know, of course, he didn't necessarily meet his match with her, but I think that was the closest, and it felt really um tense with and of course and Hathaway and John Luguzzamo, they were John Luguzzamo was a scene stealer for me. Every time he showed up, he was holding it down in every sense. He was holding it down in Ithaca, and he's holding it down for us watching.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

As I was saying, Anne Hathaway. I feel like her performance in that role specifically is just so important to the story, and like if we didn't believe her love, I don't think it would have worked. But that longing that she's had for how many years? I'm still confused about the amount of years that that they were separated.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

The the uh book might differ from the film. I I know that he was um, at least in the book, I'm pretty sure, stuck with Calypso for seven years. There were a few key moments with N Hathaway playing Penelope that I think stuck out as like the strongest of her performance. One was when Telemachus was sharing his plan to regain control and really oust all of the suitors that had taken over their home and his plan to basically get rid of them. And there was just this really tense kind of fight between Penelope and Telemachus that highlighted you know the ways yeah, just acting chops. Um, and then another one where it was more of like the emotional side and and more like the teardrigger side was when Odyssey Odysseus had come back and was posing as a beggar, and they were speaking to each other, and he was trying to um allude to his knowledge of Odysseus being alive and that he would be returning, and kind of giving that clue of this Athena pin that she had given him, and that was just really one of the most powerful and raw emotional moments that she gave us on in the film because it was, I think, her way of you know accepting that yeah, what he was saying is true. He knew Odysseus and he had to be alive, so that emotional payoff wouldn't have worked if she wasn't capable of delivering. Yeah, I guess a big one that has to be mentioned is the sound and the score and the music. Um, this is what his third project working with Ludwig Gorensen. I I know they started on Tenet, so it would have been Tenet, Oppenheimer, and now this, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Obviously, Miss Hans Zimmer. I I think that's like a classic duo, is Hans and Christopher Nolan. So, you know, there's that bittersweetness of what would the Odyssey sound like with Hans Zimmer at the helm of the score, and then you get Ludwig Gorensen's score, and you're just still blown away because it's amazing, conversation for now. And I just it's so exciting to hear something fresh and like inventive, and it's incredible. And I loved what he did with Oppenheimer. I think that was more like punctual, it just sounded more um I think memorable. There was a few songs from that score specifically that I like just would listen to all the time. I don't know that I'll do that with the Odyssey, but I think that the score here sells all of the different scenes and moments and the vibe. And it's that's that's what it was. It was just selling the vibe and the suspense.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Yeah, and one could argue that he probably is the best composer out there right now. I mean, he could potentially win his third Oscar for this. Yeah, he he just won for Sinners earlier this year.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Yeah, I I think he's gonna give anyone else's score this year a run for their money. Production design, it's gonna sweep. I mean, it it literally has to, just the scale of it, all of the ships, all of the the palace interior, all the different landscapes, the cave, um yeah, the islands, the whirlpool. You could just go on and on, literally for the whole three hours about all of the different um aesthetics. It's just mind-boggling.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yeah, I just can't wait for everyone to experience this film in the theater where it needs to be seen.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Not necessarily IMAX, but please just if you can see an IMAX first, you will think yourself later. But if not, you will eventually make your way to an IMAX to see it. So well, thank you for joining us on our epic journey through analyzing and critiquing the Odyssey. It was an incredible film. We hope you loved it. But if you did, tell us in the comments, like, comment, share, tell everyone you know to go see it on the biggest screen possible, and uh head on over to thinephile mind.com as well as the Cinephile Mind on all of your favorite social media platforms. And yeah, catch you on the next one.