The Odyssey hailed as ‘cinematic triumph’ in first reactions for Christopher Nolan’s epic

Following Monday night’s world premiere for Sir Christopher Nolan’s eagerly anticipated The Odyssey, critics have had their say, praising the movie as ‘an absolute triumph’, ‘staggering’ and ‘a filmmaking feast’.

While full reviews are embargoed still until July 15, initial impressions flooded online late last night as the social reaction embargo lifted after the film’s initial unveiling across two separate IMAX cinemas in London.

Starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Samantha Morton, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, John Leguizamo and a host of other Hollywood talent, the film adapts Homer’s 8th century BC epic – a bedrock of classical literature that has rarely been translated for cinema.

Off the back of Nolan’s biggest Academy Awards haul to date with Oppenheimer (seven Oscars) in 2024, the prestigious director has kept The Odyssey carefully under wraps so far, only teasing a tiny portion of what Damon’s mythical Greek hero will endure on his years-long journey home from the Trojan War in the film’s trailers.

But fans needn’t have worried, with his ambitious latest delivering on all fronts according to those who’ve seen it, lining it up nicely to live up to its near-insurmountable hype.

Fandago’s Erik Davis called it ‘an absolute triumph and a crowning cinematic achievement from one of the great filmmakers of our time’, with praise for the film’s ‘breathtaking’ action and scale, as well as the cast’s performances, noting that Pattinson as villainous suitor Antinous ‘absolutely stole the show’.

‘Believe the hype(rbole): The Odyssey is that film. Dense but accessible, packed with career-best work from the stacked cast – Samantha Morton is extraordinary – it’s a dizzying mix of craft and spectacle that’s built to last,’ tweeted Time Out’s global film editor Phil de Semlyen.

‘This feels like watershed filmmaking. Simultaneously the most Christopher Nolan movie ever while being completely different to anything he’s done before. Simply epic,’ I shared in my post-premiere reaction as Metro’s film reporter, adding: ‘Damon commands the screen in a gruelling role but there’s room for exceptional acting from Pattinson, Hathaway and Holland especially. Those who know Homer’s epic know the wonder in store – and I’m not sure anyone could translate it for the modern cinema screen quite like Nolan.’

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff shared similar thoughts, writing: ‘The Odyssey is a filmmaking feast. A grand and gripping rendition of Homer’s epic, and one that feels uniquely Christopher Nolan. It’s sincerely hard to imagine any other filmmaker on the planet being able to bring that source material to screen with this much scale, scope and heart.’

‘A surprisingly natural (and less despairing) Oppenheimer follow-up about a man haunted by defying the gods and dooming civilisation – this one fights to avenge his own hubris,’ observed IndieWire’s chief film critic David Ehrlich, before sounding a faint note of caution that it was ‘too clunky to be S-tier Nolan, but the last act rewards the journey’.

Other critics also praised the film as ‘a staggering achievement’ and ‘monumental’, with LA Times film editor Joshua Rothkopf adding: ‘Earthy, ghostly, weighty, touched by humour and grandeur alike. It’s pure cinema. Obviously the story is about returning home, but in a larger sense, this is also a return home to the robustly entertaining action movies that cinema was invented to tell.’

‘As someone who has always been obsessed with the ancient world but has never had particularly strong feelings about Christopher Nolan… I am genuinely gobsmacked at how good The Odyssey is,’ shared The Independent’s critic, Clarisse Loughrey.

The Odyssey follows Odysseus’s wanderings across the Mediterranean as he attempts to get home to Ithaca with his men after a decade fighting at Troy among the amassed Greek forces, after the ambitious Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) seeks revenge on behalf of his brother Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) – and power for himself – when Menelaus’ wife Helen (Nyong’o) leaves for Troy with her lover, Paris.

Meanwhile, Odysseus’ home is under siege from a relentless pack of brutal suitors seeking the hand of his wife Penelope (Hathaway), for the chance to rule Ithaca, and tormenting his son Telemachus (Holland) as both desperately hope for his return.

Monday’s premiere took place with a themed blue carpet and replica Trojan horse in London’s Leicester Square, before the film’s cast and creatives hopped across the river to introduce The Odyssey at the BFI IMAX in Waterloo, where they sat with the audience of guests to watch it themselves.

Nolan paid special tribute to the cinema as a ‘very special venue for us’, given it was the place he first met his late friend and IMAX mentor, David Keighley, who died after working on the film.

The Odyssey is also the first film in history to have been shot entirely on IMAX film cameras.

The Odyssey will release in cinemas on Friday, July 17.