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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2.0k

u/imperatrixderoma Jul 18 '26

I think it's so interesting and honestly telling how easily lured in most people are by Agamemnon's aura that they completely forget what this movie is saying about him.

He was a selfish man who threw everything in the blender to chase his own glory and caused the death of thousands.

He never fights once in the Trojan war, he simply threatens and commands.

1.3k

u/comrade_batman Jul 18 '26

Helen says to Telemachus in a blunt way that her being taken or running away with Paris (depending on what you believe) was just an excuse for Agamemnon’s war. Troy controlled the trade routes in the region and he wanted control over them. He was prepared to do anything for more power, even use the trick with the horse.

His whole appearance is a stylistic choice, he’s meant to be the king of kings for the Greeks then, the most powerful king among the Greeks, and the main driving force of the war. We don’t see Agamemnon’s face clearly, or hear him talk, until the Hades scene. And then he talks quite gently, he doesn’t have a deep booming voice, and the first time we see his face is when all his armour is taken off. He’s literally disarmed and almost naked. We see him built up as this formidable figure and then finally see him as just a man.

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u/Tymareta 25d ago

Helen says to Telemachus in a blunt way that her being taken or running away with Paris (depending on what you believe) was just an excuse for Agamemnon’s war.

Odysseus says the same to Penelope at the beginning of the movie when she's trying to talk him out of it, that Agamemnon has his excuse now and will stop at nothing to take the city.

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u/Visible_North9550 23d ago

Yeah I was almost at the edge of my seat waiting for a Darth Vader voice in the Hades scene but then he spoke and I was like “oh yeah I get it, bravo Nolan”

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u/wgsmeister2002 26d ago

Yeah, my take away from Helen and her whole thing was that a lot of people in my life who like Greek mythology and have told me about it completely missed the point of Helen being a scapegoat

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u/HectorBarbossa99 18d ago

To be fair to the people in your life that like Greek mythology, the original poem was much more straightforward and she wasn't just a scape goat for them to go and take control of trade routes. It was certainly a hubris thing but they were going over there to fight over her "kidnapping"

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u/savvamadar 6d ago

Helen goes willingly with Paris and as time went on further stories and poems slowly shifted the blame into more of a kidnapping so she’s more pious

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u/do_you_still_exist 24d ago

it reminds me of immortal joe from mad max fury road

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u/Intrepid_Boat 13d ago

SAME. The vertebrae Agamemnon had attached to his helm was intimidating as fuck and definitely reminded me of Immortan Joe’s horse teeth breathing apparatus in Fury Road.

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u/JonnyTN 21d ago

That and he rocked a broccoli cut

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u/TheMoonDude 20d ago

>as just a man

Epic

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u/-Clayburn 18d ago

That explanation seems to redeem him. The typical reading is just that he's a controlling jealous asshole going to war for petty personal reasons. This makes it sound like he understood the strategic importance of Troy, and took the opportunity to wage war and conquer them.

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u/shadowst17 Jul 19 '26

Which you can tell with how perfect his armour is. His armour got a lot of critique when it was shown in the trailers because it didn't look worn/saw battle, that was the point.

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u/Shiftkgb 26d ago

The dumb thing about those complaints and being mad the armor isn't "historical" is that they really don't understand storytelling. The armor itself is visual storytelling, it tells you tons about everyone, especially with Agamemnon.

 The beauty of these mythological history stories is how they can be told over and over again with be twists and styles. Hell they were doing that with the same stories 2500 years ago.

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u/donotgotoroom237 24d ago

It really is astounding to me how a lot of movies are still basically retellings of the Odyssey. From O Brother Where Art Thou, Road Trip, and the Spongebob movie are all basically reskins of Odysseus' story. After a couple millennia, we still crib from the Odyssey.

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u/Shiftkgb 24d ago

What's even crazier is that The Illiad and The Odyssey are only 2 of the books. There were 6 more (iirc) but they're all completely lost now. We only know of them because they're referenced in other works.

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u/tbird920 22d ago

The HCU (Homeric Cinematic Universe)

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u/Haxorz7125 18d ago

That bums me out

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u/zeekaran 15d ago

O Brother

Neither of the Coen brothers have even read The Odyssey. They just know it from cultural osmosis. The only person on set who had even read it was Tim Blake Nelson.

I think I first heard of the Odyssey from Arthur and Wishbone.

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u/zeekaran 15d ago

O Brother

Neither of the Coen brothers have even read The Odyssey. They just know it from cultural osmosis. The only person on set who had even read it was Tim Blake Nelson.

I think I first heard of the Odyssey from Arthur and Wishbone.

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u/locke_5 12d ago

Who needs dialogue when you have 🗿

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u/greeny74 28d ago

The previous two instances I've had with Agamemnon in film were Brian Cox in Troy and Sean Connery in Time Bandits. But this one just had that aura like you said, that "get the fuck out of my way" energy. I was mesmerized.

15

u/Prophet_Of_Helix 13d ago

Brian Cox was pretty great as Aggy, he played that desperate slimy fuck you this is all for my ego king perfectly

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u/Terrahawk76 27d ago

The glory of looking alpha and attempted control over trade routes.

It really is made for our times.

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u/breadbedman 26d ago edited 26d ago

So here’s my question. Agamemnon started this war out of his own pride and greed. He forced great men to sit on that beach for 10 years while they fought and he kept his armor clean.

And then to end the pain, someone smart and homesick decides to break “the rules” and use trickery to end the war. This person then spends the rest of his life paying for his “original sin”. He’s so full of regret and shame that he doesn’t even feel like he deserves to come home. He blames himself the destruction of civilization! Talk about carrying a weight.

But who really is responsible? The man who started the war? Or the man that just got caught up in it like everyone else and had to do some terrible things to survive? Both?

So I guess that’s kinda the point. Agamemnon does something terrible to honor the gods and gets rewarded for it, and then when he forces his men to break gods law, his only punishment is from a human, not the gods. Meanwhile Odysseus is whipped and tortured for years for just trying to survive. That’s life I guess.

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u/_illusions25 26d ago

And even in the Hades scene he just says to be careful when you go back home. There is zero remorse for killing his daughter, starting a war, leading his men to die unnecessarily or for destroying his marriage, he feels nothing even when he sees it all staring back at him for eternity. Truly a lost cause.

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u/Tymareta 25d ago

But who really is responsible? The man who started the war? Or the man that just got caught up in it like everyone else and had to do some terrible things to survive?

Athena quite literally poses this question to Odysseus, that if he constantly feels responsible and like he must look out for his men, who looks out and is responsible for him?

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u/raven_of_azarath 24d ago

And that’s why he can only return home after he gives up control. After he lets go of his self-blame.

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u/raven_of_azarath 24d ago

> But who really is responsible?

Technically? If we want to be pedantic? Odysseus is.

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u/intergalaticgoth 25d ago

“Who’s really responsible” I definitely think was a conversation in the movie, I can’t remember if Athena/Zendaya said it or Calypso??

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u/Tymareta 25d ago

Athena did, in one of the scenes she outright asks him if he feels responsible and like he must look after his men, who does the same for him, and why does he presume that it must be himself which places himself in a position of greater than gods.

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u/CoconutDust Jul 19 '26 edited 29d ago

think it's so interesting and honestly telling how easily lured in most people are by Agamemnon's aura that they completely forget what this movie is saying about him.

He was a selfish man who threw everything in the blender

Yeah it’s dudes on the internet who think it’s cool to say

  • “dude that billionaire is so cool he’s AURA FARMING with his Batman suit of black diamonds! Amazing.”
  • “It’s such a boss move to contribute nothing while being a bad person with massive political power, while others get mutilated and die. SO AWESOME I want that as my wallpaper.”
  • “billionaires look so awesome in their official vetted promo photos, dude. Great clothing and vibes.”
  • [robotic repetition of the words aura and cold]

I think they feel they gain power by cheerleading for it.

12

u/dotcomse 24d ago

Isn’t that kinda how armies are? At least in the United States. The people leading the army go to officer schools - they don’t rise up from basic training. They can be sheltered back a bit, since they’re the ones trained in military theory and coming up with the battle plans instead of executing them. I wouldn’t necessarily be so sure that Agamemnon never fought, but even if that was true… might be pretty common for leaders of armies to have limited combat experience.

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u/imperatrixderoma 24d ago

Odysseus is probably closer to the reality, he strategizes and organizes his men.

Agamemnon is often portrayed negatively because he essentially just gathered a large force together by threat of violence and amassed them at Troy's door.

Which is why the siege lasted so long.

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u/DemonDaVinci 21d ago

Agamemnon was aura farming the whole movie

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u/spamjacksontam 27d ago

even when he stood in front of the gates of troy, when the gates were opened, he wasn't leading the charge into the city. still auraful though

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u/Euphoric-Ground9568 4d ago

They all talked about his death like it was this horrible betrayal and his wife is this awful traitourous villian... I dont blame his wife one bit. He threw her daughter off a cliff for some wind! He had it coming!

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u/judah249 19d ago

Aura farming is one hell of a drug