Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Is Already Being Compared to One of the Greatest Trilogies Ever Made

Christopher Nolan has spent his entire career being measured against filmmaking giants, whether it was Kubrick comparisons for ‘Inception’ or Malick nods for ‘The Thin Red Line’ style war epics. With ‘The Odyssey‘ now finally out of the embargo shadows, critics are reaching for a new comparison entirely, and it is a big one.

The film had its world premiere in London on Monday, kicking off a rollout that has already treated Nolan’s take on Homer’s ancient epic like one of the year’s defining cinematic events. Full reviews remain locked until later this week, but the social media embargo lifted the same night, unleashing a wave of first reactions from critics who caught the screening.

Among the flood of praise, one comparison kept surfacing again and again. Polygon’s Jake Kleinman wrote on X that the closest comparison he could think of was Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, calling ‘The Odyssey’ both Nolan’s most straightforward film yet and possibly his most impressive.

That kind of comparison carries real weight given how rarely critics reach for Peter Jackson’s trilogy as a benchmark. Fellow reactions echoed the sentiment in their own ways, with several critics describing the film’s meticulous world-building and epic scale as belonging in that same rarefied tier of fantasy and adventure filmmaking.

Variety’s Jazz Tangcay called the film an astonishing achievement, describing it as a triumphant, spectacular epic while praising the performances from Tom Holland, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong’o as among the best of their careers. Collider’s Perri Nemiroff described it as a filmmaking feast, noting that it feels uniquely Nolan despite the ambitious source material.

Empire’s Ian Sandwell called the film staggering, packed with intense and spectacular set pieces powered by a soul rattling score, though he noted purists might balk at some of the adaptation changes. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich offered a more mixed take, calling it too clunky to be S-tier Nolan while still praising the rewarding final act.

The comparisons to prior epics did not stop at Lord of the Rings either. One reaction pointed to classics like ‘Seven Samurai’ and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ as reference points for the feeling the film evokes, while another critic mentioned ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Braveheart’ and ‘Troy’ as genre touchstones that ‘The Odyssey’ seems to tower over.

Written and directed by Nolan, ‘The Odyssey’ follows Matt Damon’s Odysseus on his long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War, joined by an ensemble that includes Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Jon Bernthal, Samantha Morton, and Elliot Page. The film was shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, continuing Nolan’s long-standing obsession with the format on what may be his biggest technical undertaking yet.

Full critical reviews remain under embargo until Wednesday, July 15, just two days ahead of the film’s theatrical release on July 17. If these early reactions are any indication, ‘The Odyssey’ looks positioned to enter the conversation alongside the very epics it is already being measured against.

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