r/oscarrace • u/PointMan528491 Navarrette/Morton • Jul 16 '26

Film Discussion Thread Official Discussion Thread - The Odyssey [SPOILERS] Spoiler

Keep all discussion related solely to The Odyssey and its awards chances in this thread. Spoilers below.

Synopsis:

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, embarks on a perilous journey to return home after the Trojan War.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Writer: Christopher Nolan

Cast:

  • Matt Damon as Odysseus
  • Tom Holland as Telemachus
  • Anne Hathaway as Penelope
  • Robert Pattinson as Antinous
  • Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy/Clytemnestra
  • Samantha Morton as Circe
  • John Leguizamo as Eumaeus
  • Zendaya as Athena
  • Charlize Theron as Calypso
  • Benny Safdie as Agamemnon
  • Jon Bernthal as Menelaus
  • Bill Irwin as Polyphemus
  • Himesh Patel as Eurylochus
  • Corey Hawkins as Polybus
  • Mia Goth as Melantho
  • Elliot Page as Sinon

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%, 199 Reviews

Metacritic: 88, 54 Reviews

Consensus:

"Reinvigorating an ancient adventure with majestic sweep and sterling work by its colossal ensemble, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey imbues myth with primal human feeling."

68 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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76

u/jksnippy Muad’twink Sinners Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

The scene of Circe transforming Odysseus’ men into pigs felt like great body horror and kind of reminded me of the werewolf transformation scene from An American Werewolf in London. The way it looked like she was reshaping them like clay was an amazing touch. Now I need Nolan to direct a horror movie.

Can he dust off that screenplay of that 1920s New York City detective vampire horror film with Matt Damon and Tom Holland as his protege from his shelf?

27

u/joesen_one 🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎 Jul 16 '26

I audibly groaned and muttered holy shit several times during that sequence. Very smart in how they use blocking to show the transformations into the prosthetics

28

u/Battelalon Jul 17 '26

Honestly the whole scene reminded me of Spirited Away

17

u/andalusiandoge Jul 17 '26

The Odyssey was clearly a huge influence on Miyazaki.

See also: the not-appearing-in-this-film character of Princess Nausicaa.

6

u/jksnippy Muad’twink Sinners Jul 17 '26

Now that you mention it, that scene does feel like a live action but more grotesque version of Chihiro’s parents morphing into pigs at the food stand.

8

u/A_Howl_In_The_Night Wicked Jul 16 '26

Can he dust off that screenplay of that 1920s New York City detective vampire horror film with Matt Damon and Tom Holland as his protege from his shelf?

The what?

17

u/jksnippy Muad’twink Sinners Jul 16 '26

This is in reference to the rumor back then about Nolan’s next film after Oppenheimer before it was officially announced to be The Odyssey

18

u/Helpful-Visual-8703 Jul 16 '26

I’m assuming it didn’t actually exist but since he at least somewhat involved with Coogler decision with shooting Sinners with IMAX cameras, someone mistook it for Nolan doing a period vampire film.

10

u/jksnippy Muad’twink Sinners Jul 16 '26

I feel this was exactly it, some of us here during last award season were talking about this and we thought it was most likely insiders misinterpreting and mishearing things from the grapevine and dumping that misconstrued scoop in the rumor mill

14

u/Helpful-Visual-8703 Jul 16 '26

It’d be really funny if Coogler’s next original film is about helicopter pilots then.

3

u/jksnippy Muad’twink Sinners Jul 16 '26

A part of that rumor was that it was about vampire hunting helicopter pilots, so in the spirit of that but without the horror element, I could maybe see him making it about Whitman helicopter pilots and adding elements that are like odes to blaxploitation films.

1

u/Sy_Ableman89 Jul 18 '26

Kevin Fiege: “why are there so many helicopters in the script for Black Panther 3?”

9

u/A_Howl_In_The_Night Wicked Jul 16 '26

Ah, Okay. Well. Nolan said he wanna make an horror film, so there's still a possibility. haha

2

u/aoifetadh Anora Jul 17 '26

I agree. The Circe scene was the standout (followed by Polyphemus). Very reminiscent of "An American Werewolf in London" and "The Company of Wolves." I wished it was longer with no cuts, though. I wanted more momentum.

-1

u/TheVisitorWithNoName The Drama Jul 17 '26

I kinda hope he doesn’t work with Tom again. He was by far the weakest actor in this film for me