The Odyssey

When Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer, Dunkirk, The Dark Knight) goes big, he goes big. One of the greatest stories every told, with a cast of superstars and stars (Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Jon Bernthal, and more), a crew of superstars and stars (composer Ludwig Göransson (Sinners, Black Panther, The Mandalorian), cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar, Spectre, Nope, Oppenheimer), and more), and shot all in IMAX, this is the true definition of a blockbuster. It’s the kind of movie that simply cannot be experienced in full on a TV screen, as Odysseus tries to get home to his wife and son after the conclusion of the bloody Trojan War, but is stymied at every turn. Despite foolish complaints about “woke casting” circulating in certain corners of the Internet, it has a 94% Tomatometer (critics) and a 97% Popcornmeter (audiences) on Rotten Tomatoes. The timing isn’t entirely locked down yet, but we’re pretty certain we’ll get it when we want it.

“It’s an enthralling, gratifyingly larger-than-life and richly satisfying moviegoing experience, timed to arrive precisely at a cultural moment when audiences — and movie theaters — are hungering for one.” -Glen Weldon, NPR
“Masterpiece is a puny word to describe this epic since everything great about director Christopher Nolan is shining in it. Oscar is coming for this cinema colossus, from a career-best Matt Damon to sights and sounds that will knock you sideways.” -Peter Travers, The Travers Take
“What you tend to walk away with after bearing witness to The Odyssey, arguably Christopher Nolan’s best work after 2017’s Dunkirk, is an overall sensation of awe. It is one of the most dynamic movies in recent memory.” -David Fear, Rolling Stone
“On his grandest scale yet, Nolan reckons with the dead, face to face, and asks us to do the same, like Odysseus. Putting all of that spectacle behind this simple but powerful message – it’s nothing less than glorious.” -Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
“Ludwig Göransson’s score sounds roughly sourced from available 8th Century B.C. instrumentation and that, as a whole, the movie’s illusion of whisking us 3,000 years back in time is almost unnervingly convincing.” -Ty Burr, Ty Burr’s Watch List
“You read The Odyssey and think: this is impossible to film. Yet this is sublime. Nolan invites us into an ancient world and holds us there, spellbound. He’s done the impossible. Pulled this off.” -Nikki Gemmell, The Australian
“Nolan and his collaborators have constructed a strange, fearsome and trailblazing machine of a movie – by some distance, the best of the year so far.” -Robbie Collin, Daily Telegraph (UK)
“Not only is it the greatest work on the iconic director’s noteworthy resume but The Odyssey also tops Matt Damon’s not-too-shabby CV. Just give him the best actor Oscar now, for Zeus’ sake.” -Brian Truitt, USA Today
“The Odyssey is another feather in Nolan’s masterpiece cap, a grandiose achievement that fills audiences with the same child-like glee experienced when watching Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans for the first time.” -Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News
“A worthy new translation of an ancient text, and yet another monumental piece of work from one of our boldest filmmakers.” -John Nugent, Empire Magazine
“The imagery from the film’s cinematographer, Hoyte van Hoytema, is gasp-inducingly beautiful, often golden-hued but also, again, stirringly real.” -Kevin Maher, The Times (UK)
“Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey may be based on one of the great classics of western literature, but he has moulded it to be a modern parable about our times.” -Wenlei Ma, The Nightly (AU)
“This is a blockbuster of literally unprecedented scale. It is also Nolan’s best work to date. It deserves to be the film that defines him.” -Clarisse Loughrey, Independent (UK)
“A 27-century-old legend that plays like a thrilling Saturday-afternoon matinee—swordfights, sea monsters, sexy mermaids, cosmic vengeance—when it isn’t reducing the viewer to tears with a brief dialogue exchange conducted in a whisper.” -Dana Stevens, Slate

The Odyssey almost certainly opens at The Clyde on Friday, July 31, and plays Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday at 7:30 for two weeks.