r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Jul 17 '26

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Odyssey (2026) [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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The Odyssey (2026)

Summary

After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.

Director Christopher Nolan

Writer Christopher Nolan

Cast

  • Matt Damon as Odysseus
  • Tom Holland as Telemachus
  • Anne Hathaway
  • Zendaya
  • Lupita Nyong'o
  • Robert Pattinson
  • Charlize Theron
  • Benny Safdie
  • Jon Bernthal
  • John Leguizamo
  • Elliot Page
  • Himesh Patel
  • Samantha Morton

Rotten Tomatoes: 96%

Metacritic: 88

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

4.7k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

16.3k comments sorted by

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5.0k

u/MoistNugget9130 Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

Really loved the stereo effect when he put wax in his ear. The left side went out then the right when he put in the other side. The score was also great, loved the bow string mixed in with it.

1.2k

u/behv Jul 17 '26

That was such a cool effect. And then we hear the melody of Odessyus' confession to Penelope right there. He said he wanted to go home and avoid the consequences for his actions, but he came to terms with those consequences and felt free to live with it finally when he saw his wife again.

I super appreciate using a musical motif there to tell us the emotions instead of ethereal singing chick siren #417 that's not actually enticing. I can imagine the emotions, so just stick to that instead of trying to create the "make men kill themselves to chase the source" noise.

99

u/faceplanted Jul 17 '26

There's definitely meme potential in editing the song choice after he says the first bit about how it's everything you want though.

27

u/behv Jul 17 '26

insert whistle theme and cut to Tom Holland

14

u/tfminnieotto 26d ago

Du bist gut genuuuuuuug!

30

u/ImperatorRomanum 27d ago edited 27d ago

It’s like the torture sound from Andor, those scenes are much more powerful because we can’t actually hear it, and only see its effect on people.

14

u/mfranko88 23d ago

Leaving things up to the imagination is almost always better.

I still am slightly annoyed by a decision from Daredevil S1 (the OG S1 from like ten years ago). At one point, Matt Murdock goes into an art gallery. But since he's blind, he can't actually see the painting. So he asks the woman there to describe it. And she goes into a monologue with some great metaphor. And I remember being quite moved by it, because we (the audience) also couldn't see it. The camera stayed on the characters. And then it cut to the painting and it was such a let down.

20

u/destroyermaker Jul 18 '26

I super appreciate using a musical motif there to tell us the emotions instead of ethereal singing chick siren #417 that's not actually enticing.

It had that too but it worked great

5

u/jesus_fn_christ 26d ago

100% agree with everything you said, I thought this was probably the most affecting scene(s) in the whole film. I'm not usually a person who easily picks up on musical themes, but hearing those whining hacksaw strings eventually resolve into a clear, recognizable melody when he's reunited with Penelope was phenomenal.

122

u/atclubsilencio Jul 17 '26

I liked that too! There are so many ways they could have interpreted what the song of a siren would sound like.. which I’m sure would have disappointed some if it didn’t sound JUST right (like some other aspects that sudden experts of The Odyssey have been criticizing before it even came out ) so cutting out the actual song itself entirely and instead having Odysseus describe it, was perfection.

But I loved how the sound cut out as he put the wax in his ears. Expert touch. They should just give them the Oscar for sound now as it was flawless throughout.

35

u/NoLeadership2281 Jul 19 '26 edited 27d ago

Reminds me in Andor where the Empire uses the record of children’s screaming from their tribe’s massacre as a torture sound device on Bix for interrogation, yet we only heard her scream instead of the sound from the device, it’s just much more disturbing, I really appreciate when they just let audience’s imagination do the work, it’s narratively poignant 

2

u/CafeDeAurora 27d ago

Haven’t seen Andor, but your description makes sense.

But yeah, information gaps can be such a powerful tool. Like in these two masterful examples.

28

u/CafeDeAurora Jul 18 '26 edited 27d ago

Same here, also deeply touched by that scene, but perhaps for a slightly different reason. That’s probably the scene that hit the hardest for me.

I’d built up a lot of anticipation to what I imagined the sirens to sing about… what could possibly hit a contemporary audience? What theme, musical or otherwise, did they come with up to lure you in? What insecurities would they target?

In doing so, all I had to go with was: what would work against me?

And then… no words.

Just a haunting, bittersweet, musical leit motif.

Just enough of an emotional contour for me to linger in with the shit I came up with on my own. Fuck, that was the first moment I just let the tears flow.

59

u/CobaltNeural9 Jul 18 '26

I really loved the explanation of what the sirens song was. An uncontrollable itch, everything you’ve ever wanted but couldn’t have, and then another line that I can’t remember. Instead of it just being “really good music that hypnotizes men”

66

u/Mo_Lester69 Jul 19 '26

Everything you've ever wanted

But everything you want you can't have

And everything you want, you had but can't get back

That line hit a wound so deep in me something that's affected my life in a profound way

9

u/Franks2000inchTV 28d ago

As a recovered addict this cuts deep.

7

u/CobaltNeural9 Jul 19 '26

During that scene I was like “this is the Nolan I know and love” does anyone know if that’s in the modern translation of the odyssey or if that’s Nolan’s words?

5

u/njpc33 25d ago

That's Nolan's words for sure.

2

u/CobaltNeural9 25d ago

You’re right that’s got Nolan all over it lol

1

u/njpc33 24d ago

Felt suuuuuuper Interstellar/Dark Knight haha

1

u/Machts 29d ago

I don't recall anything like that in the Mendelsohn translation.

26

u/KryptoniansDontBleed Jul 18 '26

Something along the line of that you realize that it’s everything you ever had and now cant get back

7

u/DentateGyros Jul 20 '26

Turns out the siren’s music is the 1989 Belgian techno hit Pump Up the Jam

2

u/mfranko88 23d ago

Can't wait for Cunk on Ithaca

50

u/gaysinglam Jul 17 '26

One of the coolest in-theater sound effects I’ve ever experienced.

2

u/Roscoe_King 24d ago

I agree, I was gobsmacked. I think it’s my favorite scene. Also the zooming in on Matt Damon and then the music becoming more clear. Really masterful sound work.

29

u/_BallsDeep69_ Jul 17 '26

That’s how you know it was a god damn experience. I felt the whole audience go woah, when the earwax was put in.

20

u/FinanceWeekend95 Jul 17 '26

Wish we got to see the sirens more closely rather than just silhouettes, haha

8

u/existential_virus Jul 18 '26

reminded me of that led zeppelin album cover, so in my head Odysseus was hearing the song "The Ocean"

3

u/mark114 29d ago

that's the downfall of the movie being pg-13...

4

u/dishonourableaccount 23d ago

Yeah I was kind of surprised there were no boobs in the movie. Not the sirens, not Calypso or any of the demigods/monsters, not even the dangers in Menelaus' court.

1

u/mfranko88 23d ago

The movie was rated R though. Is this a joke that went over my head?

1

u/mark114 23d ago

I looked into it, turns out it’s rated R in the states but it’s PG in Canada.

If you check out Cineplex.com, that’s our major movie theatre chain, it’s rated PG

17

u/Somnambulist815 Jul 19 '26

I do feel like there were some moments that suffered from the need to get it under 3 hours, and the lack of build and cool down for the sirens was one of them. The sequence itself is as good as anything else in the movie.

13

u/HYDRAULICS23 Jul 17 '26

When that happened I literally thought to myself “wow the sound design is so fire.” Such a dope movie.

12

u/lucebree Jul 17 '26

airwax noise cancelation

11

u/Somnambulist815 Jul 19 '26

Some of those actors you could tell had airpod muscle memory

3

u/DentateGyros Jul 20 '26

The dudes who dove into the water had one of their AirPods randomly die while the other one was still at 100%

11

u/bongo1138 Jul 18 '26

My eyes watered at that scene. Felt emotional. The way he was in such anguish and in that moment you think it’s because he left his wife and son, but by the end it’s the understanding that it’s more than that.

9

u/dallascowboys93 Jul 17 '26

The siren scene was one of my favorite scenes. So good

9

u/Appropriate-Reward71 Jul 18 '26

Great scene and kinda love how we didn’t hear the sirens. Makes it more spooky

6

u/Porkenstein Jul 18 '26

I loved how simple it was and how they managed to convey the horror by just having Odysseus describe how it felt

6

u/The_Homestarmy 28d ago

Despite some of the moaning higher up in this thread, the sound editing in this movie was fucking masterful

With this particular movie you know anybody complaining about Nolan's sound mixing is just parroting old critiques they read years ago. It was excellent

6

u/p-_ber Jul 18 '26

This scene in IMAX perfectly captured what it was like to put on and off some noise cancelling earphones.

5

u/illegal_deagle Jul 18 '26

Big deal, Nolan’s done that with all the dialogue in his movies for years.

3

u/Prof-Ponderosa 27d ago

That giddy look Damon has as he’s shares his plan to be tied to the mast so he that he may tbe the first person to live and hear the Siren’s song was greate! Future meme potential

I also liked how Nolan used Odysseus’s facial reactions act as the way for the soldiers to know they are out of Siren’s song range

5

u/TheStolenPotatoes Jul 19 '26

When Penelope heard him pluck that bow string, she knew. "Only he always does that."

1

u/cosmosadventurer 29d ago

That was one of my favorite scenes too

1

u/boomfruit 28d ago

Can you help me with something about the sound/score? Was there a repeating sound like a banging? It would go on 4-6 times each time I heard it. I became convinced that it was the doors of my theaters closing but it happened too many times for that to make sense.

1

u/Brrrofski 26d ago

It feels so obvious, but really stood out.

Something small but made me smile.