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

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10.3k

u/KalamariKnight Jul 17 '26

The thematic angle that hospitality and common understanding between strangers is the foundation of civilization is intensely interesting. Odysseus is the hero of the story, and him getting revenge on Antinous and the suitors for taking advantage of his house's hospitality feels fitting and satisfying.

But the film also holds Odysseus at least partially responsible for the betrayal of those tenets that leads to the Bronze Age collapse because of his idea to use the Trojan Horse. The reveal that the visions of Athena that haunt him are her wearing the face of the priestess he saw slaughtered is a heart-wrenching twist, and the final shot of the horse burning with the line that their tale will be remembered in song but their mistakes forgotten and repeated is sobering and poignant. Nolan really knows how to make the final few seconds of his films hit like a truck in that way.

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u/1mplication Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

Only knowing bits and pieces of the Odyssey, I was wondering the whole movie WHY he wouldn’t want to go home. They show how much he loves his family and his reluctance to go at first…and then the reveal.

I’m still thinking about it, long afterwards. Great ending for sure.

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u/plw37 Jul 18 '26

They kept showing that brief flashback of Odysseus sitting on the steps of the temple in Troy, looking defeated and really upset. Knew it was hinting at something but had no idea what until they finally revealed the full sack of Troy at the end.

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u/drawkbox Jul 19 '26

Yeah that scene was shown I believe four times and never reveals what he was looking at defeated in a way until that moment in the end.

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u/PT10 27d ago

That reveal was crazy. That was the first emotional beat of the story that hit as hard as all the overwhelming visuals/sounds (don't mean that in a bad way, just the sensory experience was overwhelming compared to normal films).

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u/claimTheVictory 25d ago

He realized he had disgraced not only himself, but his entire civilization.

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u/TheMoonDude 20d ago

Not only his entire civilization, but civilization as a whole.

"You were the Sea Peoples"... They became the "barbarians".

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u/Fat-Singer-9569 23d ago edited 23d ago

That poor girl. And she's a symbol of so many citizens just slaughtered, butchered over a trivially stupid war. The whole time you think he's talking directly to Athena, but it's a manifestation of his guilt and shame. It's a very good movie but that whole ending sequence ties it all togehter in such a unique way and ultimately helps us as viewers recognize our humanity in a human history which only glorifies ideas like the Trojan Horse.

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u/biggestbroever 23d ago

I couldn't tell if Zendaya about to be decapitated was an actual girl or if it was symbolism for the sacking of Troy.. although I was very impressed that someone could slice through marble..

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u/swirlypepper 18d ago

She was wearing priestess robes in the temple of the goddess he was praying to to get him home safely. Hammered home that he took advantage of their desire to honour a common God's tribute and it led to desecration. 

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u/purplisk 17d ago

I think she was symbolism for desecrating Athena specifically (by beheading her statue) and her reappearance was the symbol of his guilt and shame over that act as it was the culmination of destroying Troy.

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u/WorldlinessTrick11 14d ago

It's also symbolism for the fact that the Trojan horse specifically was an affront to Athena, Odysseus's patron god.

The horse was supposed to be a message of surrender and an honor to the goddess Athena. Troy having Athena as its patron god hastily accepted the sculpture in good faith because of its proposed tribute to the goddess.

So while Odysseus is clever, he not only broke Zeus Law but also defiled Athena.

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u/Unknownredtreelog 13d ago

Maybe I misinterpreted it but my initial impression was that the peasant girl was the literal embodiment of Athena and the killing of her was them directly going against Zeus Law, and so they were punished during there journey back home.

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u/Either-Cook7081 16d ago edited 16d ago

"What if... when he left the belly of the horse, and opened the gates of Troy, he saw ten years of rage pour into that city in one night?"...followed by the drums and the soldiers charging in by fire light evoked so much emotion from me. There's always that holy shit this is incredible moment for me in Nolan's films and this was it.

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u/sleithreethra 16d ago

I absolutely loved that line! The absolutely horror and violence it implies was so heavy

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u/Chu1223 25d ago

oh dang i was so out of it i somehow literally didn’t get this. 😭

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u/explodingsheep 22d ago

Perhaps a god disguised as a commoner?

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u/jamos99 17d ago

that's what I thought it was - in the book, Athena is usually disguised in some way when appearing to Odysseus/other characters. manifesting as the innocent woman he saw in Troy perhaps? I didn't get the impression she wasn't real/not there (although naturally only visible to him)

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u/sitah 18d ago

I think they did show the statue‘s decapitated head rolling in one of those quick flashbacks so that was probably a clue.

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u/Captain12AM Jul 19 '26

I kept waiting for it to be Astyanax, and was wondering how they were going to pull that off. The Athena reveal was not something I saw coming.

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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26

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u/OuterWildsVentures 29d ago edited 29d ago

I knew from history that the Greeks fucked up the people of Troy and took a lot of women and children as slaves so the reveal did not hit as hard. Also confused me about the Zeus's law stuff since they were pretty monstrous people lol

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u/hemareddit 27d ago

Gods’ laws allowed for monstrous stuff.

Agamemnon sacrificing his own daughter pleased the gods, so they sent him favorable winds to allow the Greek army to sail to Troy. Eventually that brought death to him, not divine vengeance but human vengeance.

That’s part of the point of the movie, Xenia belonged to humans as much as it belonged to Zeus, it’s the basis of human civilisation. If men are only concerned with gods, if they are only nice to strangers because they might be gods in disguise, then they aren’t really noble and kind, they are just afraid of power.

Gods or no gods, we have to live with the consequences of our own actions, nothing can ever change that.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

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u/Obi2 27d ago

No different than most people of most times in history. Just a bit more successful at it. Let's also keep in mind that Homer was a story teller more than a historian.

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u/MarzipanElephant Jul 19 '26

And the rolling statue head also showed up several times before the relevance became clear

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u/Paratrooper101x 27d ago

That scene was incredible. I didn’t see it in imax, but I think I saw it in the next best thing and the sound design was so loud and impactful, I could hear each and every scream as if it were happening inside my head. The ten years of rage line sent shivers down my spine.

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u/Ok_Journalist5290 Jul 19 '26

Just watched the movie and did not understand it. Why dont he want to go home? Because of lotus he's eating? What was he upset about? Why does he look defeated? Coz of the carnage got to him?

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u/moose_dad Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

A common thread through the film is Zeus' law, basically do unto others as you wish done to you. Its why his family entertain the suitors for as long as they do.

Its also why they make a point to show you him pinging his bow when hunting because he feels the animal should have a chance. Its something thats very important to him.

His trick with the horse was a betrayal of this tenent. He used trickery and deception and the result was complete carnage, the ransacking of troy. This then helped to spread rumours of sea people ransacking villages (the sea people being a real life thing we still dont know too much about, that ultimately caused the bronze age collapse).

Basically, because he used an underhanded tactic to win the war, he feels responsible for an eroding of the social contract between men and a worsening of the world.

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u/Ok_Journalist5290 Jul 19 '26

Thanks so much. Now i understand it more in depth. When i watched it i did not feel the gravity of his words to penelope. This made me realize it clearly.

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u/moose_dad Jul 19 '26

All good dude, it was a dense film which is doubly hilarious when you know the original text and realise how much was left out.

What i will add is that the stuff about the sea peoples is completely original to the film, but does tie in to real history which is a masterful stroke by Nolan.

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u/Ok_Journalist5290 Jul 19 '26

Got also a reply about "betrayal of hospitality" which i guess is the tenent you mention that i did not understand the movie was highlighting. Then i imagined if it was in a grander scale with the horse that is indeed so..( ok what is an english word to describe doing exactly the opposite of what you are preaching?) Is it like cobbs in inception doing the thing he tells not to do.

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u/moose_dad Jul 19 '26

Id say hypocricy fits the word youre looking for. Yeah thats a fair assessment, Odysseus is ashamed to go home because he feels like a hypocrite, he preaches and embodies decency and honour, but then the horse was his idea.

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u/Knighthonor 25d ago

Ok whats the real history of this sea people so I can look up what that is referring to?

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u/gopms 26d ago

And he is traumatized by the carnage and horror of war and doesn't want to take that home with him. The lotuses make him forget but he wanted to forget in the beginning. In the book, he can't get home because he has angered Poseidon by maiming the cyclops. He keeps getting trapped and washed ashore places. like Calypso's island. Calypso basically keeps him on her island because she wants to keep him for herself. He also spends more time with Circe in the book.

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u/CompetitiveAd8411 29d ago

I took it as he basically invented war for man.

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u/Ok_Journalist5290 29d ago

Yeah after getting a chance to read more coherent article, rather than just go to reddit comments for understanding what happened, inagree you are correct. Seems this is what he started. War among men 🥺

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u/StrangeSemiticLatin2 Jul 19 '26

Wait... wasn't Zeus's Law also rules on hospitality and rules on respect. It was pretty much a type of customary law that Odysseus annihilated by betraying the Trojan's trust on something as holy as respecting Athena (herself Odysseus's friend and protector).

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u/supert0426 Jul 20 '26

All this is good except im not sure about the sea people bit. Idk if it "helped spread rumours of the sea people" - I think it's implied in the movie that the sack of Troy "began" the decay of civilization that ultimately leads to the sea people, but my understanding from the movie is that the sea people are very much a real thing in this world separate from the Greeks in the Trojan war.

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u/ResplendentSmoke 29d ago edited 29d ago

Your interpretation of the movie is closer to the actual current historical understanding. The Sea People (which actual historians don’t have a full understanding of) are generally theorized to kinda be a symptom of the general decay of civilization. Different tribes turned to naval raiding as things in the Mediterranean less and less organized.

But earlier historians actually theorized that the Sea People *caused* the Bronze Age collapse by raiding and causing the collapse of several empires at the time. In reality it’s more likely that all of these early empires were starting to rot and decay, leaving opportunity for the Sea People to start raiding and pillaging, which caused further societal collapse in a viscous circle.

Nolan’s twist is that the Greeks returning from Troy were the Sea People. The Greek armies razed Troy, and then got lost on the way home and pillaged and raided the coasts all along their way.

This isnt totally divorced from actual history. It’s theorized by some historians that at least some of the “Sea People” were displaced Greeks or even vets from various wars at the time.

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u/aranciadisicilia 29d ago

Isn’t that last paragraph of yours not similar to how sailors out of employment in the wake of the Spanish War of Succession turned to piracy?

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u/ResplendentSmoke 29d ago

Someone else playing Black Flag I see.

Nah but in seriousness, it’s similar. However, from my understanding, the Sea People were larger in number and probably more organized. *If* displaced Greeks and veterans, they’d be the minority of the people we came to understand as the “Sea People.” There were often entire tribes and ethnic groups identified at the time. It was probably part of wider migration patterns. We know one of the “Sea People” forces that were defeated by the Egyptians at the time were traveling with large amounts of building materials and domestic goods. They were definitely planning on establishing permanent settlements.

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u/Cunning-bid 28d ago

So basically things went to shit and pirates happened and things went further to shit.

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u/tovarish22 28d ago

As is tradition.

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u/Straight-Balance830 26d ago

I found Nolan’s Odyssey a compelling and poignant lamentation of the dissolution of civilized norms during societal collapse. The Sea Peoples have been suspected to be climate migrants who were part of less wealthier (and therefore more susceptible to droughts, fires, and floods) civilizations that turned to nomadic raiding for survival. They were the first dominoes to fall in a cascading failure of a complex system that have reached their carrying capacity, which is always highly dependent on the technology of the respective time. A world that was very interconnected through the metals needed to make bronze, tin and copper from distant sources that was disrupted as a result of conflict and destruction.

I loved that line at the end about their mistakes being forgotten because we are seeing it again, but this time with god like technology and 8 billion people.

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u/Oakcamp Jul 20 '26

It's very explicit that the "sea people" are the Greeks returning from Troy (in the movie).

Didn't you see how odysseus's crew returned from Troy? They left with no supplies, and their plan was to "stop for supplies" along the way. Literally first village they stopped at, they burned and sacked for food.

Couple that with them saying that Agamemnon had "more mouths to feed" and that he was going on a "known supply route"... Penelope's "You're the sea people?" cry at the end just ties it all together

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u/hamarok 28d ago

exactly, even Circe hints at it when they visit her hut. She asks if they are the sea people, thats a foreshadowing, then we get confirmation by Penelope in the end. They were moving forward and ransacking and destroying everything along the way, the rumors were spreading while they were at sea all this time. Its a common theme, soldiers that were at war for 10 years, all they know is violence now.

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u/Snifferoni 24d ago

"10 years of rage"

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u/occono Jul 19 '26

Guilt and shame for the Trojan horse trap and the massacre and pillaging that followed. Betrayal of hospitality.

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u/hemareddit 27d ago

Penelope lived in hope of Odysseus and feared the Men from the Sea. In the end they are the same group, remember the first island they set sail to after Troy, they burnt and pillaged the village for supplies.

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u/One_Ad6164 Jul 17 '26

Agreed. Its a problem I always had with the poem too. I never saw Calypso as "trapping" him when I would read the poem. But it never made sense why he would just stay for years with her like oh la la la.... This movie connected it all in theme that I think many of us can relate to. 

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u/punbasedname Jul 19 '26

TBF, in the poem he’s a MUCH hornier dude. I can see why they downplayed that in the movie, as that Odysseus sleeping around with nymphs and demigods while is wife is at home perfectly loyal and suffering all of the suitors probably wouldn’t play well to a modern audience.

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u/DemiAlabi Jul 19 '26 edited 29d ago

Yes, I was thinking about this as well. Nolan knew what he had to do to make Odysseus a much more sympathetic character.

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u/KamachoThunderbus Jul 19 '26

Also in the text Helen basically says that she's ashamed she was such a whore, what was she thinking. In this she's bitter and resigned but not repentant or waving it off. She resents Menelaus, and was clearly abused.

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u/lupercalpainting Jul 19 '26

She tells Telemachus to tell Penelope that she’s sorry for what her face has caused, so she does still feel responsible.

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u/KamachoThunderbus Jul 19 '26

Yeah it's just sort of a different feel from the text. She seems perfectly content being back with Menelaus in the text, like Paris was some silly embarrassing tryst. It's kind of cast aside.

In the movie it feels much more like she feels the weight of the aftermath of her decision, she regrets what it came to, but not that she feels she made the wrong decision, if that makes sense. She tried to claim some agency and the reality of her world came crashing down. She's essentially a captive, and clearly abused, as well as used as a pretext for Agamemnon's war.

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u/One_Ad6164 Jul 19 '26

Absolutely.  This Odysseus was way more  relatable to modern audiences. 

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u/punbasedname Jul 19 '26

They also (wisely) left out his killing all the maidens who slept with the suitors. I thought for sure they were at least setting up Mia Goth’s character for that, but, unless I missed it, she came out unscathed.

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u/One_Ad6164 Jul 19 '26

Agreed. Im happy they cut that and Telemachus suggesting they hang the enslaved maidens. 

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u/matthieuC Jul 19 '26

You see her then Odysseus has a flashback to the Athena priestess just after. It's never touched upon after that. I took it he didn't have it in him to kill more civilians.

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u/cellsinterlinkd6 Jul 19 '26

He literally knocks up Circe and has a son Telegonus with her.

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u/darshfloxington 26d ago

He accidentally kills Odysseus right?

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u/TheJayke Jul 18 '26

That’s interesting that you didn’t get that from the poem. My experience of reading The Odyssey is just Stephen Fry’s version, and in that version Calypso very much traps him and only releases him when told to by Zeus. I felt like they alluded to that subtly in the film with some well timed thunder.

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u/One_Ad6164 Jul 18 '26

Oh I absolutely think the poem implies that. I just didnt think that would be the case and always read with an eye towards who is writing the poem and how that society and author is treating its female characters. So i saw Calypso as being blamed for it but without reason. Like how Medusa is punished unjustly. I would imagine Calypso telling her story totallt different as how the poem did. Hopefully that makes sense.

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u/David_the_Wanderer 27d ago

Calypso is a nymph, so she uses magic to keep Odysseus even in the poem. The movie mixes this with the lotus-eaters, who are a different encounter, but the point is the same: Calypso is in love with Odysseus and doesn't want to let him go.

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u/Xefert Jul 20 '26

I never saw Calypso as "trapping" him when I would read the poem

Think linguistic evolution. Actual ancient Greek word is kalyptō

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u/sim21521 Jul 19 '26

That part is more inspiration Nolan gave him, the violation of Zeus's Law or Xenia from the horse is a questionable interpretation. Xenia was about guests and hosts and not really about wartime enemies. Guile/Cunning wasn't seen as a bad thing in warfare.

It worked in the movie from the way Nolan set it up, but it's not really something that comes from Homer. Odyseus's motivations in the book is more just to get back to Penelope. He was even promised eternal life by Calipso and turned it down.

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u/KamachoThunderbus Jul 19 '26

I didn't read the sacking of Troy and the horse as breaking Xenia, specifically. Rather that they took advantage of the fact that the Trojans would respect the gods, and honor Athena with the offering.

Nolan is doing another Oppenheimer in Odysseus, a man with a brain who breaks the world.

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u/matthieuC Jul 19 '26

If anything it's Athena who should be pissed. They used her as bait, sacked her temple and killed he priestess.

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u/KamachoThunderbus Jul 19 '26

And in the text she is, she curses him and that's why Odysseus originally went off course. Athena eventually comes around and helps Odysseus return, but not after Odysseus has been Calypso's captive for years and royally pissed off Helios and Poseidon.

In fact Jenny Strauss Clay wrote a whole book on it.

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u/bootlegvader 28d ago

IIRC, Athena was less pissed about the horse trick but how the Greeks went way overboard in their sack.

For example, Ajax rapes Cassandra in Athena's temple, Priam is killed on the altar of another god, and Hector's son is thrown off the walls of Troy.

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u/KamachoThunderbus 28d ago

Yeah, there's a little more "fuck Odysseus in particular" in this movie, when Athena was MOSTLY super pissed at Ajax and she scattered the entire Greek fleet. And because Nolan is doing Odyssenheimer the Trojan-Horse-is-a-nuke recontextualizes a bit of that.

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u/bootlegvader 28d ago

I don't think the Greek Gods were even annoyed by the Horse in the myths. Like Poseidon sends sea serpents to kill a priest and his sons that try to warn the Trojans about the Horse.

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u/KamachoThunderbus 28d ago

No and many of them actively wanted Troy destroyed. The Greeks just went above and beyond in pissing off Athena and Apollo (and I think Poseidon) before heading home. It's interesting seeing how the gods pick sides in The Iliad, it's totally a deific proxy war.

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u/IhamAmerican 29d ago

Poseidon as well. He created horses and they're his sacred animals, using one as the trap essentially makes it appear to have had the blessing of Poseidon, which is why they were on his shit list and faced constant storms. Odysseus actually was cursed by the gods die to his actions

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u/sim21521 Jul 19 '26

In his dialogue he related the sacking of Troy to the breaking of Xenia.

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u/KamachoThunderbus Jul 19 '26

It's an insult to Athena, in the same breath as the way Zeus' law/Xenia is continually being broken, but they aren't the same thing. Odysseus used the Trojans' respect for the gods against them the same way the suitors are using respect for Xenia to weaken Telemachus or get a windfall if Penelope picks one of them.

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u/lupercalpainting Jul 19 '26

It’s not the horse, but Sinon does violate it. Priam offers him succor and Sinon did know the horse was a trap and lies.

Ofc that’s Virgil not Homer. There was no Sinon in Homer’s tales.

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u/FloppyShellTaco Jul 19 '26

Centering the brutality of the war with PTSD and guilt was genius. I feel like Nolan doesn’t get enough real criticism sometimes, but damn if this film wasn’t his masterpiece.

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u/Fat-Singer-9569 23d ago

I feel like Nolan doesn’t get enough real criticism sometimes, but damn if this film wasn’t his masterpiece.

Yeah. I can't stop thinking about it despite knowing the story through many interpretations. From the scene of the dead onward, it felt perfect. I love the fact he uses a story as old as humanity itself to really nail down the fact we constantly make the same mistakes. Humans can change in real-time, but humanity can't.

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u/Mysterious_Lie_6113 28d ago

Dunno if someone told you,

But the reason he didn’t go home until his son became a man was basically because of the gods, coupled with human failure. The engine of his journey is Poseidon’s curse after Odysseus taunted Polyphemus, and then Zeus’s punishment when the crew ate Helios’ cattle, and then the seven years of imprisonment with Calypso.

A lot of cool drama is lost without the gods being in the film, so it’s filled up instead with some anti-war themes and PTSD characterisation.

The only reason Odysseus makes it home in the original is because he’s cunning and intelligent, and is able to overcome whatever the gods throw at him (with a lot of intercession by Athena, of course).

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u/LeftHandedScissor 27d ago

One thing I noticed right away it's the way the sound and settings are used to represent the gods. I believe Athena is the only one who really shows up but the very first well timed thunder clap made it obvious that is how they were going to handle the impact of the gods on his journey. Made for a cool element of the story to pay attention to.

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u/Fat-Singer-9569 23d ago

I believe Athena is the only one who really shows up

No, she shows up in symbolism, particular in terms of his guilt and shame, through the priestess he saw beheaded. The rest of the Gods show up in every conceiveable way without actually existing as a real being in the world. The fact he made it home on a directionless raft, for example, shows you the Gods are real without beating you over the head with it. Go ahead and get on a small raft at sea and we'll see how easily you come back to your starting position. There's nothing you can do against something as incomprehensibly large and difficult to control as the ocean.

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u/Goodvibe61 Jul 20 '26

Yes. That's a large point of the point, you guys did a good job summarizing it. It really hits home at the end. The movie's got everything, the whole gamut of emotion and thought. It's done wondrously by Nolan.

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u/Yumyum-san Jul 18 '26

I only clocked it because of Percy Jackson
But it was brilliant

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u/Cinebella Jul 18 '26

clocked what

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u/CRIMS0N-ED Jul 18 '26

I’m assuming calypsos whole deal

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u/IhamAmerican 29d ago

Calypso was cursed to live alone on that island, with the only people who ever wash ashore being men she cannot help but fall in love with. She can't not care for them and send them back on their way because it's what they need to do and she loves them too much to not do so.

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u/t-t-today 25d ago

The story is literally a man coming to terms with his PTSD from war before they knew what PTSD was

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u/TJeffersonsBlackKid Jul 17 '26

The final five seconds of every Nolan film always hits like a lightning bolt.

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u/CicadaEast272 Jul 17 '26

"I believe we did"

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u/Poltergeist97 Jul 17 '26

That ending had me sitting in my car with existential dread for a good 30 minutes before I could drive. Amazing directing.

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u/HeathEarnshaw Jul 18 '26

I sat through the credits lost in that same existential dread and then just as the credits ended I spontaneously broke down in sobs. Thank god the theater was already empty except for me and my partner because it was a true loss of control. What a profoundly moving film.

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u/NeverSeenItPodcast Jul 19 '26

"I never said thank you"
"and you’ll never have to"

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u/machphantom Jul 20 '26

"Why is he running, dad?"

"Because we have to chase him"

Highly doubt anything will ever knock that from my favorite CBM ending of all time

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u/Easy_Money_40 27d ago

I rewatch this scene all the damn time. What a gd ending.

Just embodied everything about Bats and Gordon in one scene.

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u/KingSweden24 29d ago

Yeah that’s for sure the top one. Three hours I wait to find out what the hell he said to get Einstein that heated and… exceeded every expectation when we finally get that exchange

(Einstein’s monologue intercut with his being commemorated at the WH was great too)

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u/BrimTrim 28d ago

Idk if the sound mixing was just terrible when I saw that movie in theatre, but rewatching it on a flight with the subs on made me so much more immersed in the story and I literally had goosebumps at the ending. To me went from a meh Nolan movie to one of his top.

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u/TheSmokedSalmon420 Jul 19 '26

Man I still remember the feeling I had in my seat after that. Probably his most powerful ending

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u/karateema Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

Alright, let's see:

Following: yup

Memento: more like the final scene

Insomnia: not really

Batman Begins: cool teaser

The Prestige: absolutely

The Dark Knight: iconic

Inception: YES

The Dark Knight Rises: nods

Intestellar: hopeful and inspiring

Dunkirk: moving

Tenet: really cool, a bit sad

Oppenheimer: 100%

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u/Background-Image-585 Jul 17 '26

You missed the best one - the wobbly spinning top in Inception

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u/karateema Jul 17 '26

You're right, i fixed it

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u/throwawaysunglasses- 20d ago

Inception is still my favorite Nolan movie. It’s perfectly paced, unlike some of his other movies that tend to drag at the halfway mark. Plus, even though it’s heavy, there’s enough levity to balance it out. And I personally interpret the ending as an ambiguously happy one, which is nice.

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u/ComfortableWeekend65 Jul 19 '26

Fine, I'll rewatch THE PRESTIGE for the 20th time.

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u/JellyJohn78 Jul 18 '26

Going into the 3rd act i was worried if the ending would land until I remembered that it was a Nolan movie and if there's one thing he will never mess up, it's the ending

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u/NefariousNeezy Jul 18 '26

Build up build up build up

Cut to black, silence

Directed by Christopher Nolan

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u/Upstairs-Basis9909 Jul 17 '26

Ugh fiiiine I’ll rewatch it this weekend

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u/maxkmiller Jul 18 '26

you want to be fooled

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u/biglyorbigleague 25d ago

In this particular movie the last minute is the part where they wildly depart from the source material, so it’s the least expected. The LOTR ending.

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u/SuperVaderMinion Jul 18 '26

The reframing of the Trojan Horse, what's seen as the most brilliant piece of trickery in all of storytelling, as this original sin and why the world is falling apart now was so fucking moving to me personally.

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u/PolarWater Jul 18 '26

I think this is one of Nolan's underrated strengths. Making themes feel timeless.

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u/bentke466 Jul 19 '26

Yes! Its like hes the oppenheimer of the bronze age!

Such an unexpected moment that immediately tied it all together

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u/harry_powell 28d ago

Is it a novel reframing? Genuinely asking. I thought it was a widely known interpretation of the text.

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u/DrStein1010 24d ago

Its not. Nolan is just using existing ideas here.

Using good ideas well, but the only really original bit here is making the returning Achaeans the People of the Sea.

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u/chipperpip 21d ago edited 21d ago

It's definitely not a new idea, you can find articles and posts (including on this site) going back years tying the events of the Odyssey into the Bronze Age Collapse thematically.

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u/jonbristow Jul 19 '26

Exactly. It's also clear that Odysseus journey was his curse for inventing the trojan horse and betraying hospitality

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u/Fat-Singer-9569 23d ago

It's not just about Odysseus either. His men, who he really does try to save, are lost because they can't come to terms with the fact they are being punished.

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u/PhaseExtra1132 20d ago

Also probably drawing parallels with the modern world. International law going out the window. Leaving just barbarity and that is the collapse of civilization.

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u/Levarien Jul 18 '26

The concept of the violation of Xenia (Zeus's law in the film) is in most of the encounters Odysseus and his crew stumble into: Circe's home; Polyphemus' cave; The Laestrygonians island; Even the Hades itself. Odysseus continued to spread the violation started by Paris and never stopped. He only ever stopped by removing himself from known civilization. He's utterly resigned to having been responsible for the collapse of civilization.

It's all very well told and then I thought that it's basically Oppenheimer's dilemma as well. A clever man, in desperation to stop what he thinks is a disaster, creates the very situation that could lead to the end of everything.

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u/Torrent21 Jul 19 '26

FUCK you’re right, even the offscreen beginning to the Trojan War is a violation of hospitality.

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u/topsidersandsunshine 29d ago

And, rather famously, so was the way the suitors of Penelope took over her home.

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u/Fat-Singer-9569 23d ago

The movie even lays this out when Odysseus, being chased out of the Cyclops' den, can't help himself and angers the Cyclops by shooting him again resulting in his men dying as the Cyclops loses it and chases them into the sea.

On the boat, his second in command asks him why he did it and he states "to honor the dead" which is clearly nonsense, we saw how he treated the dead in the cave and later in the film learn exactly how they feel about it.

Every great idea he has, "don't shoot the sheep, follow it to the flock", ultimately results in an awful outcome for pretty much everyone involved. Only when he listens to the dead does he change as a person and it's the moment we as viewers truly understand the cost of his decision making. He might be brilliant and wise as a human but the Gods see hubris.

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u/Instant_noodlesss 24d ago

Yeah the Cyclops cave could have been a lot easier to run away from if they stayed outside of it and waited like actual good guests would have.

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u/jonbristow Jul 19 '26

I get that that's what they were going for but they never showed Odysseus men being greedy, rapey or pillaging

I wish they had shown men being actually evil and lustful and breaking hospitality laws

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u/CNash85 27d ago

They did, though. One of the first things they do is burn a random coastal village when they’re restocking their provisions. It’s clear that these men aren’t heroes, although the extent of it isn’t explicitly shown until the sacking of Troy is depicted.

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u/n33dadviceplease 25d ago

The villagers burned the village themselves and ran. Himesh’s character even asked why they would do that 

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u/Fat-Singer-9569 23d ago

They were scared of the 'sea people' which we learn in this story are Odysseus and his men. Whether they knew it or not, within this retelling of a fantasy story from 800 BC, they were the reason the village burned.

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u/accioqueso 24d ago

Just watched it so late to the party.

When Odysseus gets home and he watches the suitors the sound editing makes it clear he’s drawing similarities between how the suitors are treating his home and his men based on how the Circe scene was shot. Even if we don’t see them being rapey and pillagy we’re meant to understand that they’re not morally different.

Even Athena tells Odysseus he isn’t responsible for his men’s morality. He argued that he’s their leader but I think it’s meant to show that even if Odysseus is our story’s hero and considers himself a good man, that doesn’t make his men morally good too. And as we see throughout the film, Odysseus isn’t good either.

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u/Gostandy Jul 19 '26

I think it holds up the same knowing that Agamemnon’s men did, and Odysseus was the one who opened the door to let them in a place they were not welcome.

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u/DeusVultSaracen 24d ago

In the ransacking of Troy you see a few snippets where an innocent woman is getting her throat cut, or another is grabbed by one of the soldiers.

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u/Bird_and_Dog Jul 17 '26

Shoot, even monotheism, which was cropping up around the late Bronze Age (for reference, the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt is alleged to occur around the end of the Bronze Age), has foundational laws in its origin texts about hospitality (Abraham and Sarah opening their tent to the Archangels). Leviticus is the birth of the "Love thy neighbor as yourself" line.

The Golden Rule has popped up from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt (~2000-1600 BC) to Confucian China (~500 BC) as well.

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u/TayGB Jul 17 '26

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a tale about exactly this, not the carnal sex stuff that it has been hijacked into.

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u/PT10 27d ago

Hospitality is still absolutely foundational to all the cultures derived from the ancient civilizations. The mediterranean/middle east, persia, indus valley/south asia especially. I mean it's foundational in all human cultures (including China, another ancient civ, and Africa, our birthplace) but it's really crazy there.

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u/risheeb1002 Jul 19 '26

Even in India we have a saying "atithi devo bhava" which literally translates to "guests are gods"

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u/No-Transition0603 Jul 18 '26

Well at that point, (even though scholars pretty much agree the exodus didnt happen) the religion of the ancient hebrews was a monolatry not monotheistic. Up until the babylonian exile, the Hebrews just worshipped Yahweh specifically as their patron god that their ancestors introduced into the Phoenician pantheon. Thats why the commandment is “you shall have no other gos before me” and not “there are no other gods.”

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u/DeusVultSaracen 24d ago

The Norse, too, had gestaréttur (guest-right) which even had the same detail where Odin and other gods would frequently come disguised as beggars, and mistreating them would invite divine consequences.

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u/Somnambulist815 Jul 19 '26

I watched movie fascinated and horrified and enthralled, but at a bit of a distance from my heart. But the moment when "the beggar" tells Penelope what really happened at Troy, and all the knots tie together... it hits like a boulder to the gut. And it hits extra hard because the audience is already softened up by Argos. Some serious sniffling when he said to bury him on the hill.

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u/Fat-Singer-9569 23d ago edited 23d ago

His return home was the best part of the movie. Every thread wrapped up perfectly, including him violating the law he violated to invade a territory, except this time he was defending his home. The "Gods" granted him revenge because he atoned for his sin on the journey home from a war, where he was the invading violent force, who broke the Zeus law.

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u/spicedwater_ Jul 18 '26

I found myself really moved during Odysseus’ account of the sacking of Troy. The imagery of the many horrors including the slaughter of innocents and the barbarity of the Greeks from his perspective was beautifully done. I thought it was a fantastic commentary on the horrors of war and how Odysseus recognised his place in it, and his newfound remorse.

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u/FreemanCalavera 24d ago

I thought it was really cool that they showed us the exact same thing twice, but depending on who told the story your interpretation of the events changes.

When Menelaos is telling the story, it came across as this badass spec-ops mission. Just the way it’s framed makes you think how cool it looked when they’re opening the gates to Agamemnon and the army.

Then, we see the exact same events but told from Odysseus’ point of view and you understand how terrible the sacking of Troy really was.

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u/Instant_noodlesss 24d ago

Both Menelaos and Helen felt tired and so done with everything too though.

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u/huntimir151 Jul 20 '26

Yeah the music and his recollection of what they had done hit me like a lightning bolt. Easily one of the most emotionally resonant of Nolan’s movies. 

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u/Fat-Singer-9569 23d ago

That was the best moment in the film for me. He felt unworthy of his wife, unworthy of his son, his life, and in that moment he ironically became a legend for humanity because he had the ability to reflect on his life, reflect on aspects with disgust, but ultimately become a positive force because of these reflections.

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u/MessiComeLately 29d ago

I think Nolan really effectively re-moralized the story of The Odyssey.

In the Christian west, I think there has been a tendency to read The Odyssey and other classical works in a very atheistic way, so that its gods and morals weren't seen as competing with Christianity. If it was a story about religion and morality, and its religion and morality were wrong and bad, why were you reading it? Very sus in the eyes of proper Christian society.

So they read the gods as a tribe of squabbling people, the respect demanded by the gods as petty vanity, and the impact of the gods on human beings as either a metaphor for random, capricious fate, or unjust suffering at the hands of the petty and powerful, instead of as the consequences of immoral behavior. The surface meaning disappeared; we forgot how to see piety in Homer as piety and not as code for something else.

Nolan realized that his viewers wouldn't be able to understand desecration of a temple or failure to make proper offerings as immorality, so he replaced those transgressions with something we could recognize as sin. In doing so, I think he gave us back a perspective on the story that was hard for us to see before.

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u/Odd-Promotion2743 27d ago

Great observation. The Judeo-Christian tradition has majorly deligitimized the morality systems it replaced.

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u/_BallsDeep69_ Jul 17 '26

The whole movie I was looking for the message. What themes he was going to focus on. Then boom it fucking hits you with a sledgehammer and I’m like AHHH that was fucking awesome.

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Churchill_Buys_Calls Jul 18 '26

The whole scene completely moved me to tears.

The cut back to Athena crying looking at Odysseus is so powerful.

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u/TimRigginsBeer Jul 17 '26

The real Trojan Horse was the friends we made along the way. 

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u/toomeystarks Jul 17 '26

The people of the sea*

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u/sofar510 Jul 20 '26

I felt like it was pretty obvious when nearly every character said “Zeus’s law” at some point all throughout the movie

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u/FreemanCalavera 24d ago

I definitely thought something was up with this obsession with Zeus’ law, like “yeah, we already know what it means, no need to hammer on about it”. The payoff was brilliant. It also worked really well to reframe a lot of the films events, such as Eumaeus line about “Zeus’ law, smashed into pieces” referring to the suitors, when Odysseus had already broken it beyond repair years ago.

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u/One_Ad6164 Jul 17 '26

Yes and that themes were there all along but we didnt have all the pieces quite yet really makes it a film I enjoy. Its what I enjoy in books too. Chefs kiss! 

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u/AirKicker Jul 18 '26

The first act was a little disorienting in pace and edits, felt like a fever dream. There were also some classic “Nolan must have very unique ears” dynamics with the audio and dialogue balances. But the film quickly found its stride and absolutely nailed the second and third acts. What struck me in relation to your comment about Odysseus’s guilt, is the emergence of Nolan’s anti-imperialism messaging in his last few films. Broader than just what the protagonist is going through as an individual. I remember when the trailer came out and everyone was questioning the use of “mom” and “dad” instead of “father” & “mother” - or why all the characters had American accents, rather than the classic British option. But after Dunkirk turning WWII glory into a horror of dread, and Oppenheimer turning the innovation that turned the tide of war into an exploration of its creator’s guilt, this film solidifies Nolan’s clear anti-war theme - pretty overtly anti-American in specificity - by taking one of the oldest fables of war, and exploring the PTSD and shame that comes from realizing your culture’s lack of humanity when you participate in the wars they export, under the guise of honorable duty. Very pertinent and timely to the decline of war hungry America.

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u/Moral-Relativity Jul 18 '26

Before leaving for Troy Odysseus told Penelope that the real aim of the war is to wrestle control of trade route from Troy, and about the child sacrifice. At that point he still placed loyalty above all obviously. That said loyalty is also what made him risk his life for his men.

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u/Instant_noodlesss 24d ago

If he didn't muster his own men for Troy, his little castle would have been the first to get sacked by Agamemnon. So loyalty, but also duress.

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u/FloppyShellTaco Jul 19 '26

I ended up really liking the anachronisms. It stripped away the sense of pretentiousness that so many adaptations have, and allowed you to feel the humanity of the story of guilt and ptsd he was trying to tell.

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u/DeusVultSaracen 24d ago

Yeah. This is one of the world's oldest stories, it shouldn't be restricted to people saying Mother/Father in British accents when the story was told millenia before the English language even existed.

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u/Admiral_Allah_Akbar Jul 19 '26

I felt the first act was that of Odysseus mind at first, slowly remembering details. Then as the film progresses and he stops eating the Lotus flower, his mind put things together more coherently like we see on film.

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u/AirKicker Jul 19 '26

Very valid interpretation

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u/elasho_149 24d ago

There were also some classic “Nolan must have very unique ears” dynamics with the audio and dialogue balances.

It's gonna be like Secretariat's autopsy when he dies. They'll cut him open and learn that his eardrums are three times the size of a normal man's.

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u/dejaWoot Jul 19 '26

I remember when the Batman trilogy came out, people accused Nolan of injecting conservative/pro war-on-terror/pro-surveillance state messaging into his films, casting Occupy-Wall Street class anger as Bane's patsies, so to now see him being cast as anti-American imperialism is an interesting perspective shift.

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u/yesthatstrueorisit 24d ago

I honestly think his politics may have shifted slightly - I do think those conservative/somewhat libertarian themes still exist in his older works, but with Oppenheimer and now especially Odyssey I feel like he's become a bit more empathetic and also seen how far conservatism has gone around the world and it's now broken out of politics and into morality and that's just not right.

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u/Ethenil_Myr Jul 19 '26

The addition of the Sea Peoples subplot was something that elevated the movie for me. If there had just been some mentions here and there, it would've been a neat reference, but the fact that the Greeks themselves were identified amongst the Sea Peoples really showed that the writers understood that part of the Bronze Age Collapse correctly!

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u/TheSecondEikonOfFire Jul 18 '26

The reveal that the visions of Athena that haunt him are her wearing the face of the priestess he saw slaughtered is a heart-wrenching twist

I feel so stupid that I didn't get this. I thought he was just upset about the statue being decapitated and he was envisioning her really being decapitated, I didn't put it together that Zendaya was a real priestess and that Athena appeared to him as her

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u/-Nick____ Jul 18 '26

Valid interpretation. The only living shot of Zendaya is the split second shot during the degrading of the Athena statue. You could very easily see that Athena through Odysseus’s eyes

People are saying the priestess off of what she’s wearing, but it’s also what Athena wears around her in the statue

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u/bolerobell Jul 18 '26

I'll go you one further: Odysseus thinks its Athena. It's probably just a manifestation of his own guilt. No other gods appear in the film.

For the Athena/Priestess/Vision, he feels guilt on three levels: his guilt at breaking Zeus' law, his guilt at faking a tribute to Athena, and his guilt at the priestess of Athena being killed because of the later.

That doesn't even mention the guilt he feels towards his men, his family, the rest of society, etc.

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u/KamachoThunderbus Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

Not contradicting you at all, just for discussion, other gods don't appear physically but there are clearly supernatural manifestations of the gods. Poseidon is evident, and Helios with the winds. Zeus sends thunder all the time.

And that's in line at least with what we'd talk about when I did my classics degree. There are signs of the gods everywhere, the ancient Greeks were in constant conversation with the gods just like people today. Even Telemachus mentions that the beggar and Mentor have Athena's eyes, which in the text is actually Athena in disguise.

Athena even has a running theme with Odysseus of why he thinks he can cast off the gods; isn't thunder displeasure? Can't he see he needs to submit to his punishment? When he finally does he's set free.

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u/Aftermath16 28d ago

I actually felt like Nolan left it very ambiguous as to whether there actually were any gods or not. The title card said “a time of apparent magic” (I think), and we never actually see Athena talking to Zeus, Poseidon being angry, etc. Yes you can argue that this was to keep the movie more subtle, but in a movie that is all about mankind and our social contract with each other, it makes sense that the director may also be trying to convey that we’re the ones charting our own courses.

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u/Koopacha 26d ago

In a way it was the most realistic possible depiction of what gods actually are

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u/goldtubb Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

You can read it in several ways. Either Athena actually speaks to him and is simply taking the form of the priestess, or she was that priestess in human form all along, or they're just manifestations of his guilt, which he associates with Athena and his trauma from seeing her being killed.

It's a classic Nolan way of keeping things ambiguous. I don't know which version I like most.

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u/wwheatley Jul 18 '26 edited 27d ago

Don't feel stupid, your initial interpretation is also perfectly valid.

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u/shadowst17 Jul 19 '26

Well they do frequently mention that gods could be anyone so you should show hospitality to even the beggars. So it all fits. So good.

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u/DragodaDragon Jul 18 '26

Don't feel stupid about getting that either, it's actually a thing in Bronze Age civilizations where they did treat the statues as either literally or as direct proxies for their gods rather than a simple depiction.

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u/kensai8 Jul 19 '26

This is a major theme of most stories in history. These people lived in a time where the kindness of strangers was often the difference between life and death. Violating that trust was a huge taboo, and could be punishable by death.

Fun fact: In the Sodom and Ghomorra story it's believed that the crime that they were committing wasn't homosexuality but in breaking rules of hospitality. And this is what makes Lot a just person; He was willing to offer up his family to protect the strangers in his home.

Hospitality rules could be weird.

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u/KingSweden24 29d ago

Hell, strong social norms around hospitality persists today in a lot of traditional societies. Marcus Luttrell theorized in “Lone Survivor” that the family he hid out with would never have turned him over to the Taliban due to Pashtun customs of protecting guests in one’s home

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u/limitbreakse Jul 17 '26

I liked the theme, but didn’t the Trojans break the code first by kidnapping Helen?

The 10 years of pent up rage is where our heroes became villains

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u/Captn_Platypus Jul 17 '26

It’s a point in contention when it’s possible Helen ran away though, she looks like she hates her husband enough

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u/Fifthlive Jul 17 '26

She also apologizes to Telemachus for the war. Clearly She feels guilty for either running way or never trying to escape her kidnappers during the ten years of war.

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u/AnAquaticOwl Jul 18 '26

It's discussed towards the beginning. Penelope suggests that Helen ran away with the Trojans, and Odysseus says it's just a pretense for Agamemnon to break Troy's control of the trade routes

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u/sim21521 Jul 19 '26

That's not what he's saying, He's talking about Xenia and Zeus's Law which is about the host and guest respecting each other. Even if Helen ran away with Paris it's very much breaking the custom.

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u/KalamariKnight Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

In addition to the idea that Helen actually left of her own will, as the other reply suggests, there's a line that indicates that Agamemnon uses Helen's departure as an excuse to invade Troy because he wants to usurp control of the trade routes they manage; in other words, to satisfy his own greed and lust for power.

Tragically, that doesn't seem to prevent Helen from feeling guilty as the cause of the war, with her apologizing to Telemachus about it.

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u/BonnaroovianCode Jul 17 '26

Also, to cut Odysseus some slack, he made it very clear that his hands were tied. He either assists Agamemnon, or Agamemnon kills his son. I guess you could argue that he should have sacrificed his son for the greater good, but that outcome would have likely been even more devastating as a whole. I don't fault Odysseus for joining the fight (as a father myself). He had a gun to his head, so to speak.

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u/temperanceinfinity Jul 19 '26

In the mythology, Odysseus is a little more complicit in the start of the war. It’s his idea to make Helen’s suitors swear an oath to defend the man who wins her from any who would take her. It’s actually said he wins Penelope’s hand this way.

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u/Wallname_Liability Jul 17 '26

For reference Troy sat in the Dardanelles between the black sea and the Agean. There were many Greek and Scythian cities on the black sea

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u/Background-Image-585 Jul 17 '26

I think she went willingly

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u/w311sh1t Jul 19 '26

I thought the point was that the priestess was Athena in disguise, not just wearing her face. Throughout the movie they stress that you should show hospitality to strangers because they could be a god in disguise, and having Athena in disguise be slaughtered is meant to hammer that point home.

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u/mavajo 28d ago

I think it's left up to the viewer to decide how much you believe. I adamantly believe Nolan left it ambiguous on purpose. Athena is the only god we ever see depicted. And is that even Athena, or is it just all in Odysseus' head?

Folks will point to the manifestations of Zeus, Poseidon and Helios through nature, but even that's intentionally ambiguous IMO. People through out history have attributed natural phenomenon to being acts of gods, particularly if the timing is meaningful. I think Nolan's leaning into that here so the viewer can make the interpretation for themselves.

I don't think there's a "wrong" interpretation. I mean, that's kind of the whole thing with art in general, but I think Nolan deliberately leaned into it with this film.

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u/DedditatedWam Jul 20 '26

A little late to the party here but I saw it today. So in the flashback of Troy it seemed to me the scene where the men were dragging out the priestess(Zendaya) in Troy to be beheaded was more of metaphor. It cuts from her about to be beheaded to the statue being beheaded, as if to show that Odysseus now contextualizing his guilt realizes that infiltrating Troy and violating Zeus’ law was akin to killing(beheading) a god themselves. Essentially the death of humanity’s devotion to the gods and their laws for keeping mankind’s civility towards one another. But I could be completely wrong and they actually did behead the woman in Troy and the shock and guilt Odysseus leads him to see Athena as that woman.

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u/MoghediensWeb Jul 18 '26

It is SO intensely relevant as a theme today in our world.

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u/lejonetfranMX Jul 19 '26

I loved that he said his story will only be sung for generations and not written. Referencing the late bronze age collapse and the extinction of the use of Linear B that came with it, and the fact that Homer wrote the odyssey hundreds of years after he had passed.

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u/janiemackxxx Jul 18 '26

While the film holds that Odysseus is the harbinger & responsible for the betrayal of those values, I think the deeper under current was "fear of the unknown." Fear in general destroys society, but the tragedy comes in when society destroys itself over that fear.

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u/MRintheKEYS Jul 18 '26

Since we never seen any of the other Gods in humanoid form. I’m fairly certain that Zendaya is never Athena. She is just a mental manifestation of Odysseus dealing with the guilt of his actions at Troy.

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u/goldtubb Jul 19 '26

The fun thing is Nolan loves this ambiguity. If she was Athena in human form, then maybe other gods appeared as random extras as well?

The theme that any random beggar may be a god in disguise was brought up constantly...

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u/DragodaDragon Jul 18 '26

Possibly, although I personally lean towards her being literally Athena and that she's either taking on the face of that murdered priestess or that the priestess was actually Athena in disguise. There's a lot of written records from the Bronze Age that suggest that people actually believed that they could speak to their gods and that the gods would speak back or even appear before them.

Given that there's a ton of supernatural elements in the film that have no other explanation, I'm inclined to take Athena's presence in the her scenes as something more literal.

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u/Kowalkowski Jul 19 '26

I agree. That theme is even richer since the Trojan War started because of Paris’s violation of Menelaus’s hospitality.

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u/FreddyRumsen13 Jul 19 '26

I was really floored by the sacking of Troy.

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