The Odyssey Review: Myth Made Flesh
Christopher Nolan’s star-studded epic lumbers like a one-eyed giant but still brings ancient myth roaring to life.
For all the pre-release chatter about who Christopher Nolan cast as Helen of Troy in The Odyssey, the casting that matters most in the filmmaker’s sweeping adaptation of Homer’s epic poem is not the beauty whom legend claims was hatched from an egg.
Odysseus is the part that makes or breaks this movie, and for that, Nolan tapped Matt Damon. So, does the actor’s performance evoke “ancient Greek ruler?”
Not really, but Damon wields his no-nonsense, can-do persona dependably well portraying the Greek King of Ithaca whose years-long trek home from the Trojan War sees him crossing swords with countless foes, and crossing paths with a colossal, man-eating Cyclops.
Facing down such fantastical CGI beasts, Damon grounds this lush reimagining of myth in genuine human emotion. Yet, whether buried in the scraggly beard of a weary traveler or kitted out as a warring king, Damon is always “Matt Damon as Odysseus” here.
If you’d like to see the actor disappear into a complex role as a knight in a ripping swords-and-armor epic, turn to Ridley Scott’s 2021 action-drama The Last Duel. As Odysseus, Damon leads a starry cast that generally registers as a distinguished theatrical company offering its gravely serious interpretation of a classic.
That company’s grande dame would be Anne Hathaway, playing a fierce Penelope, stalwart wife of Odysseus, waiting and waiting inside the palace for him to come home.
The queen’s been left to fend off a bullpen of suitors who have accumulated in her house in the years of her husband’s absence. Those thirsty for his throne include sneering scoundrels Antinous (Robert Pattinson) and Polybus (Corey Hawkins), who hatch a plot to take out hers and Odysseus’ son, the doe-eyed prince Telemachus (Tom Holland, struggling to balance youthful naivety with gritty determination).
Between scenes of characters in the royal court scheming in the shadows — be it suitors whispering nefarious plans, or Penelope and Telemachus shoring up necessary defenses — Odysseus engages in portentous debates with the mysterious Calypso (Charlize Theron) on her remote island. Kept as her lover, he’s forgotten himself, his family, and his quest to get home.
Occasionally in the story, he confers instead with the goddess Athena (Zendaya), who appears to him in visions serenely guiding him with tough love. While Nolan’s script and the performances can feel stilted in rendering the poetic text, the film shrewdly gets under the skin of men and women governed by faith in — and fear of — their temperamental gods.
In that context, faith and myth share common ground. Paradoxically, the film is at its realest when it’s diving head-on into the fantasy of witches and giants, and stormy seas tossed by an angry Poseidon.
The movie comes alive in its action set-pieces, strung among the heavily theatrical tête-à-têtes, and spurred by Ludwig Göransson’s throbbing score. Nolan applies his brilliant eye for scale and heft to bringing sea battles and 20-foot-tall knights in armor roaring to life onscreen.
Oft-told legends are reimagined with the physical detail of real events. The tale of the Trojan Horse, for example, is grippingly depicted from the POV of Odysseus and his soldiers crammed inside the gargantuan steed, with nary an inch to move, breathe, or relieve themselves as they wait for the fake gift to be hauled inside the city gates of Troy.
In terms of visual effects, and overall effectiveness, the film’s standout sequence finds Odysseus and his troops trapped in the cave domain of towering, one-eyed giant Polyphemus, performed by award-winning actor Bill Irwin.
Amidst the awe and suspense of watching the Cyclops chase tiny humans around its lair, Irwin indeed disappears into character. Equally awesome, Samantha Morton ignites a proverbial fire, minus the monstrous makeup, and purely through the power of her performance as wily sorceress Circe.
In her multi-faceted take on the deceiving witch — as with Lupita Nyong’o’s poignantly regretful Helen of Troy, who bears the scars of her shame — a mythical figure is made flesh and blood. So, too, if with less dimension, does Damon deliver his Odysseus, a flawed man of faith whose hubris more than once impedes his long journey home as the conquering hero.
The Odyssey (★★★½☆☆) is playing in theaters nationwide. Visit fandango.com.
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