The Stream: The repetition of the story and the 3-hour runtime is a bit of a deterrent.

The Big Screen: Beautiful cinematography and the ambitious adaptation of this ancient text.

The Final Bill: Christopher Nolan delivers epic spectacle on a grand scale.

– S2S: Movie Review and Trip Fontaine
Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Christopher Nolan, Homer
Stars: Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo, Travis Scott, Charlize Theron, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Epic, Fantasy, Romance,
Rating: R rating (violence and killing)
Runtime: 2 hours 44 minutes
Production Companies: Universal Pictures, Syncopy
Platform: Released in theaters July 17, 2026
Notable Trailers: Heart of the Beast, The Weight, The Dog Stars, Godzilla Minus Zero, I Play Rocky, Digger, Focker-in-law, Other Mommy

Welcome back-eth, Streamereans! Yes, summer movie season keeps moving along as the year’s most anticipated movie finally hits theaters. We’ve had obsessed lovers, furniture store clerks lost in liminal spaces, and animated toys threatened by their electronic counterparts and, now, comes Christopher Nolan and his star-studded cast in a swords-and-sandals action film. You know Christopher Nolan always has some innovative trick up his sleeve to bring audiences back to the movie theater. In this week’s offering, The Odyssey, Nolan gives us his cinematic flare in the story of Odysseus’s (Matt Damon) difficult journey home after the Trojan War. While Odysseus and his men confront various trials on their way back to Ithaca, Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and Telemachus (Tom Holland) do their best to stave off vulturous suitors for Penelope’s hand in marriage in order to ascend to the throne left vacant by the presumed-dead Odysseus. Trojan horse and other Homeric hijinks ensue.

A new release from Christopher Nolan is always an event, and The Odyssey is no different. This movie delivers the big action set pieces, great visual effects and sound that you come to expect from a Nolan joint. It looks beautiful, and you won’t believe how they even created many shots. All of the crafts of this movie are top notch and enhance this ancient story. The plot of The Odyssey is pretty well-known, but this movie plays with the sequence of events and goes back and forth in time, which can lead to things feeling disjointed or repetitive. With a runtime that is nearly 3 hours, seeing multiple scenes multiple times feels like its dragging out the story. Nolan does seem to want to highlight some themes of perspective and regret through the repetitiousness, but sometimes less is more.

This cast is star-studded. It seems like every scene has a new big-named star in it. I don’t know if they were all necessary, but it was fun seeing familiar faces, nonetheless. Matt Damon is excellent as Odysseus. He has the physicality of the world-weary hero. His final scenes are particularly emotional. I also liked Anne Hathaway a lot. She has less to do than some of the other actors, but her role is pivotal as the emotional center of the movie. She holds her own and has a very strong presence. But I will say that Hathaway playing Tom Holland’s mom makes me feel old. Feels like just yesterday she was in The Princess Diaries, but I guess she’s graduated to queen diaries now. The great performances don’t just end with Damon and Hathaway. Jon Bernthal did his best angry Punisher speech in this movie, and it was still riveting. The performances make you think, is everyone that good of an actor or was the script just that well-constructed. It must be both. Even though the movie is long, the viewer still is made to hang on to every word and that makes nearly 3 hours so much easier to deal with.

Ultimately, The Odyssey delivers on the epic spectacle of war, gods, monsters and an emotional journey home. Nolan weaves in challenging themes about heroism, duty and fall of civilization through the destruction of civility. It’s beautiful to look at, populated by a lot of stars and has very good performances by Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway. This movie really should be seen on the big screen, and although it is too long, the second half of the movie will hold your attention and not let go until the credits roll. Grab a big box of popcorn, obey Zeus’ Law and get thee to the theater.