‘The Odyssey’ Review Roundup Is the Best Thing Cinema Has Seen in Years

‘The Odyssey’ has spent months as one of the most anticipated films of the year, with anticipation building around its massive budget, its all-star ensemble, and its status as the first feature ever shot entirely on IMAX film cameras. That anticipation came with plenty of online noise too, including a wave of backlash over the film’s casting choices that Christopher Nolan himself has since brushed off.

Now that the review embargo has finally lifted, the film’s reception has answered any doubts head-on. Critics across major outlets have responded to ‘The Odyssey’ with some of the strongest reviews of Nolan’s career, with the film currently sitting at 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes based on more than 109 reviews and an average score of 8.8 out of 10, putting it ahead of even ‘Oppenheimer’, which held a 93 percent score and an 8.6 average following its own release.

The praise has been especially pronounced among major UK outlets, with The Guardian awarding the film a full 5 out of 5 stars and describing it as a gigantic, shimmering mirage that offers a mysterious three-hour vision of crazy episodes without ever fully yielding up wisdom or contentment.

The Telegraph‘s Robbie Collin was similarly effusive, calling the film a strange, fearsome and trailblazing machine of a movie and, by some distance, the best of the year so far.

Empire’s John Nugent focused much of his praise on the film’s scale, writing that it is filmmaking at a magnitude few modern directors could ever realistically imagine, demand or execute.

He singled out Samantha Morton’s performance as Circe as one of the film’s standout moments, describing her sequence as the closest Nolan has come to full-on horror in his career, before closing his review by simply stating that nobody does it better.

That kind of praise extended well beyond the UK press. The Financial Times’ Danny Leigh described audiences as living in an age starved of awe, framing Nolan as the last giant in movies uniquely able to spark that missing wonder, and suggesting that maybe it was fate that led him to finally tackle Homer’s text. RogerEbert.com praised the film’s technical execution, noting its scale, the graceful way it moves between time periods, and the tactility of its imagery.

Not every review has been a flawless rave. The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney called the film uneven and said it is no match for the sure footedness and intellectual complexity of ‘Oppenheimer’, even while praising Matt Damon’s performance as superb and noting he goes to dark places seldom explored in his previous roles. Variety’s Guy Lodge offered a similar note of caution, writing that the film is consistently involving and frequently dazzling but never exactly moving, even as he acknowledged it stirs on a scene to scene basis.

Despite those more measured takes, the overall consensus among critics has landed firmly in Nolan’s favor, with reviewers repeatedly describing ‘The Odyssey’ as either amazing or pretty good rather than settling into any true negative territory. Nolan has yet to receive a rotten score from critics across any of his 13 narrative features, and ‘The Odyssey’ appears set to continue that streak in dramatic fashion.

‘The Odyssey’ opens in theaters on July 17, following preview screenings the night before, and stars Matt Damon as Odysseus alongside Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron.

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