Critics Praise Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey After Premiere
Following its world premiere in London on Monday night, Christopher Nolan’s three-hour adaptation of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, has garnered enthusiastic responses from critics who attended early screenings both in the UK and the US. The film is already being discussed as a strong contender for the Best Picture Oscar.
“Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is a colossal origin-myth story of postwar disillusion and a loss of innocence witnessed by the dead,”wrote Peter Bradshaw of ahead of the reviews embargo lifting next Wednesday and the film’s worldwide release scheduled for next Friday.
Anne Thompson, editor-at-large for IndieWire, described the film as the Best Picture contender to beat and suggested it
“could win best actor.”She added,
“My high expectations were met,”calling the film
“stunningly mounted.”
Several critics praised the film as
“flawless”and
“breathtaking,”with particular acclaim directed toward Robert Pattinson’s portrayal of the villainous Antinous.
Erik Davis hailed the film as
“an absolute triumph and a crowning cinematic achievement from one of the great film-makers of our time. It feels like everything Nolan has been working toward with Imax has culminated here.”The film was shot entirely using large-format Imax film cameras, although it will also be shown in non-Imax cinemas.
Davis continued,
“The production design is incredible, the action is breathtaking, and the scale is unlike anything he’s done before. What really surprised me is how much he embraces horror. Some of the film’s biggest moments are genuinely unsettling, adding a whole new dimension to his film-making while never losing sight of the humanity at the story’s core.”
He further noted,
“Anne Hathaway is incredible, Matt Damon is excellent, and Tom Holland continues to prove he can do just about anything. But Robert Pattinson absolutely stole the show for me. He’s so conniving, manipulative and endlessly entertaining to watch. Pattinson leans all the way into the character’s villainy, and it results in one of my favorite performances of his.”
Matt Neglia praised the film’s set-pieces, calling it
“a colossal achievement of scale, even by Nolan’s standards.”Meanwhile, IndieWire’s David Ehrlich described the movie as
“surprisingly natural”and
“less despairing”than Nolan’s previous film, Oppenheimer, which dominated the 2023 Oscars and grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide.
However, Ehrlich also commented that the film was
“too clunky to be S-tier Nolan, but the last act rewards the journey.”
Classical historian Tom Holland, who is not related to the actor of the same name starring in the film, defended The Odyssey on X, stating,
“I’ve now watched it twice, and it is by some way the best cinematic adaptation of a Greek myth I have ever seen. It honours Homer while simultaneously making something new of him.”
Financial Outlook and Cinema Trends
With an estimated production budget of $250 million and a substantial global promotional tour planned, The Odyssey will need to earn at least $500 million worldwide to break even. Nonetheless, indicators suggest a resurgence in cinema attendance, supported by the strong box office performance of blockbusters like Toy Story 5 and unexpected successes from low-budget films such as Backrooms and Obsession.
