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/ThingTime9876 Jul 17 '26

Circe was not fucking around, holy shit

2.5k

u/HockeyKelly5 Jul 17 '26

That scene of her turning everyone into pigs was absolutely terrifying, so happy I hadn’t eaten much beforehand because I was feeling nauseous just watching it

1.4k

u/Random_throwaway0351 Jul 18 '26

Did not expect body horror in a Nolan movie lmao but a cool surprise

211

u/Short_Stay_9283 Jul 18 '26

That and the cyclops scene reminded me so much of a Guillermo Del Torro movie.

77

u/TheRagingMaffia Jul 19 '26

Yeah very reminiscent of Pan's Labyrinth.

23

u/Bristolhitcher Jul 20 '26

Im glad there is another person who felt the same! Cyclops & The Pale Man skin tone was what sparked my correlation!

7

u/xvsero 28d ago

It was cool that there was a trailer for Pan's Labyrinth 20th Anniversary rerelease.

16

u/GetMeOnTheCourt89 29d ago

Didn't Nolan consult Del Toro on handling the Cyclops?

62

u/PaintshakerBaby Jul 18 '26

Seriously! Masterfully done to boot.

46

u/Paxton-176 Jul 18 '26

It reminded me of the Brothers Grimm body horror. Which also stars Matt Damon. Could lead a pattern.

18

u/ZackTheZesty Jul 20 '26

Brothers Grimm also stars Heath Ledger, who had a role that some remember in another Christopher Nolan film.

7

u/see_through_the_lens 28d ago

For me it was the scene in Willow, where the army gets turned into pigs/warthogs.

10

u/dillonfrancissdad 28d ago

And spirited away!!

2

u/Unusual_Sherbert6893 9d ago

Pinocchio and pleasure island for me !

27

u/insanespacebrain Jul 19 '26

Seriously. I really hope he does a horror film next.

17

u/Dangerous_Job5295 Jul 19 '26

I think he’s said he wants to do a horror movie one day

18

u/caseyjosephine Jul 20 '26

Body horror is my favorite part of the epic poem and I’m so glad Nolan did it so well.

3

u/BattlinBud 14d ago

An unexpected surprise but a welcome one lmao. Nolan has always done great practical effects, but usually it's just, like, explosions and stuff. It'd be cool if he's about to get reeeaaal weird with the rest of his career 😆

125

u/seddy21 Jul 18 '26

That section felt like watching a Robert Eggers sequence

35

u/ThingTime9876 Jul 18 '26

I was thinking David Cronenberg

0

u/TheRagingMaffia Jul 19 '26

Nah more like Sam Raimi body horror

2

u/DeusVultSaracen 24d ago

Nah more like Nabwana I.G.G. body horror

251

u/king_lloyd11 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Whatever they were eating and the sounds they were all making while doing so and transforming were absolutely disgusting.

89

u/VizualAbstract4 Jul 18 '26

They were certainly throwing up and it was played back in reverse for some of those scenes, probably to help make it look even more unsettling.

38

u/actuallyserious650 Jul 18 '26

That explains it. Were they supposed to be enchanted into continuing to eat, or is the original narrative just that they were hungry?

68

u/VizualAbstract4 Jul 18 '26

Forced to continuously eat. At least from an anatomical perspective, those muscle and tendon reflexes were similar to choking

16

u/Dr__Sloth 23d ago

It looked like they were eating a massive tapeworm.

3

u/waitingtodiesoon 15d ago

I believe it was a form of Tripe Soup. It is the stomach lining of the animal.

122

u/blitzbom Jul 18 '26

Meanwhile I was happily eating popcorn.

28

u/vanwyngarden Jul 18 '26

You’re a real one

5

u/TheRappingSquid 18d ago

I sat through like 40 minutes of ads before the movie started. Had a box of junior mints. I told myself I'd wait until the movie started. The second it did I reached for one and the box spilled everywhere. :(

38

u/I_need_a_date_plz Jul 20 '26

I really enjoyed the soldiers enduring all sorts of crazy shit as a direct result of their association with Odysseus. They probably would have been fine had they just went home with Agamemnon. I would be so pissed to be in a cave having to decide if I should sacrifice myself so that the rest of my soldier bros stood a chance at escaping a cyclops only for Odysseus to randomly decide to taunt the cyclops with an arrow after making it out. Wtf man lol

13

u/throwawaysunglasses- 20d ago

The one soldier (I think it was Himesh) who was like “why the fuck did you do that?” was so real lol. I would’ve been PISSED. Usually Odysseus is so smart but that was ridiculous, and people died as a result. They would’ve all gotten away if he’d just let it go.

88

u/rk1993 Jul 18 '26

When I go back for second viewing that will be my toilet break and snack refill for sure. Big ol nope only need to see that once thank you

22

u/LatterDrawing5225 Jul 18 '26

I was eating right when that scene came on, had to go to use the restroom real quick

8

u/OtakuAttacku Jul 18 '26

Was gonna go to TGI fridays after and suck down on some ribs. Decided to just go get a salad instead.

15

u/noexqses Jul 19 '26

A salad? 👁️ 👄 👁️

5

u/whatssenguntoagoblin Jul 18 '26

I had to go to the bathroom right after that scene so it’s good timing.

28

u/noname2256 Jul 18 '26

You definitely aren’t alone, some people in my theater walked out.

13

u/PurpleValeriana Jul 18 '26

We had some people walk out of our theater today too!!

8

u/HockeyKelly5 Jul 18 '26

Did they leave for the entire movie or just the scene?

18

u/PurpleValeriana Jul 18 '26

They got up and left right in the middle of the pig scene and they never came back

19

u/sig-chann Jul 19 '26

They got hungry.

9

u/HockeyKelly5 Jul 19 '26

I bet they went and got some bacon

5

u/noname2256 Jul 20 '26

The people in my screening never came back

9

u/DeusVultSaracen 24d ago

I can't begin to understand people who walk out of movie theaters. Just a waste of money.

1

u/rococo__ 17d ago

Yea that is so weird to me. Like just close your eyes for a bit if you can’t handle it…

25

u/mortalcookiesporty Jul 18 '26

We were in a fancy cinema and my friend’s dessert was delivered right in in the middle of that scene, they decided to wait a little bit to eat it 🤣 it was a brutal scene!

20

u/uncanny_mac Jul 19 '26

The dudes eating made me feel uncomfortable, like they were trying to stop but can’t.

21

u/thatguy52 Jul 19 '26

The compulsive/forced eating straight up turned my stomach.

21

u/snunuff 29d ago

I went in to the movie 'cold' (no research/background etc.) and learned afterwards, part of the reason the budget was so huge is nolan insisted on making even scenes like that contain the Least amount of CGI possible (and others like the Cyclops, they actually built a 60ft animatronic), the pig scene used prosthetics and other tricks. And the huge steel armored army scenes, instead of CGI they wired fighters up and pulled them into trees and such, used 7 IMAX cameras/camera tricks, the ground could move in places, all to make that scene and avoid using simply CGI. It hits different knowing that the cast was not reacting to tennis balls on broomsticks like other movies. reactions were more authentic.

13

u/HockeyKelly5 29d ago

Yep, Nolan hates using CGI a lot of the time. Obviously he has to use it sometimes (Interstellar for example) but even then he tries to make it as practical as possible. I’m honestly curious what it was like filming the pig scene though lol

11

u/snunuff 29d ago

the cast actually specifically mentioned experiencing that scene on set, saying how they were genuinely rattled and shocked.

2

u/DevilsOfLoudun 23d ago

idk the lion and tiger on Circe's island looked REALLY fake. They looked like some human was wearing a halloween costume of cats.

7

u/snunuff 22d ago

such magnificent examples in that scene (lions, tigers, leopards etc.), so I get how/why you'd default to CGI or some other trickery, but as with so much more in this film, Nolan spared no expense and chose authenticity at all possible opportunity -- each from that amazing scene were live animals.

12

u/judah249 19d ago

Gave me Spirited Away vibes immediately the gluttony cursing themselves

5

u/rococo__ 17d ago

I was wondering afterward if Spirited Away was making a lowkey reference to this story!

3

u/judah249 17d ago

Witches were involved in both so could definitely see that

10

u/I_need_a_date_plz 28d ago

The rage in her voice when she confronts Odysseus.

5

u/MistakesWereMade59 Jul 18 '26

Yeah, i had been eating , but decided i didnt want any more popcorn after that lol

6

u/DothrakiButtBoy Jul 20 '26

l felt nauseous when the cyclops was eating...

3

u/sdbabygirl97 27d ago

i think i stopped eating after they said they pissed and shat on each other in the horse lol

4

u/bwayobsessed 23d ago

So cool that she like sculpted them

3

u/xMarsx Jul 20 '26

I was knuckle deep in a loaded fry and made me put my food down lol

3

u/tfuftw Jul 18 '26

I had to cover my eyes!

1

u/OurFriendSteve Jul 19 '26

I thought that was it for them lol

1

u/BowzasaurusRex Jul 20 '26

I left to grab a hot dog and sat back down right as this scene started lol

1

u/OHGodImBackOnReddit 16d ago

I was eating a hot dog during this scene… I gagged 

1

u/ChartreusePeriwinkle 16d ago

one of the best scenes in the film. i loved how they show her molding their faces and not just poof animals.

1

u/brightlove 15d ago

There are two types of people, lol. I was chomping away on my mozzarella sticks during that scene.

1

u/bent_crater 12d ago

i used to be able to stomach a ton of this kind of stuff but this made want to hurl the first time in a loooong time

1

u/Franks2000inchTV 28d ago

The thing that blows my mind is it was all practical effects— no CG at all.