The Odyssey (2026)

I had a wonderful time with my son recently going to see a late-night screening of The Odyssey (2026) in 15-perf/70mm IMAX. It was a sold out show, for a late time-slot, on a weeknight.

The hype is real.

Breathtaking scenes. Great mix of drama and action. Excellent pacing (never feeling like it dragged even with the longish runtime). Fantastic score. Great performances from the majority of the cast. The movie exceeded my expectations.

I first read The Odyssey in English (translated by W.H.D. Rouse) as a teen in the 1980s. I bought it, along with The Iliad, as a pair of mass market paperbacks published by Mentor. Mentor was one of New American Library’s imprints, and its classics list was eventually folded into what became Signet Classics. I enjoyed both epics, but The Odyssey was the one that stayed with me. Its themes felt timeless and universal. A man leaving his home, his family, and everything he holds dear to fulfill an oath; the long, punishing journey that tests him to the breaking point; and the bittersweet truth that when he finally returns, the world he left behind is no longer the same and neither is he. That narrative arc has resonated with me ever since.

There has been some pushback regarding Nolan’s adaptation. Character portrayals, departures from Homer’s structure, modernization of themes, and even his decision to adapt this particular story to begin with. While I acknowledge these criticisms, I found The Odyssey to be an extraordinary achievement as a work of cinema. I was captivated by what was happening on screen. I was engaged with the story. I was emotionally invested in the characters. And I was in awe of the artistic visual representations of many of the events I remembered from the literature.

What stayed with me wasn’t just the scale of the filmmaking, the technical accomplishment, or seeing it in 70mm IMAX – though these certainly amplified the experience. What stayed with me was the feeling of reconnecting with a story that meant something to me when I was young, and experiencing it again in a completely different way, decades later, sitting next to my son. Nolan’s The Odyssey may not satisfy every purist or align perfectly with every expectation, but for me it captured the spirit of the journey, the cost of duty, the weight of time, and the tragedy of trying to find your way back home when home as you know it no longer exists.