The new trailer for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming “The Odyssey” dropped last night, and the internet wasted absolutely no time doing what it does best: arguing and debating about it. But before we get into the noise, let’s be clear about one thing: this is still one of the most exciting films of the year, and nothing in the new trailer has changed that. The discourse, as it so often does these days, has triggered many into a few distinct areas of contention and debate pertaining to Nolan’s latest. But, I think he deserves more credit than what he is being given here so far.
The loudest criticism has centered on the dialogue. Specifically, there’s a line delivered by Robert Pattinson’s scheming suitor Antinous (Who we see a lot more of in this latest trailer), suggesting that Telemachus (Tom Holland) was “pining for a daddy he barely knew,” which caused quite a stir on Film Twitter. The use of casual, modern American phrasing in the context of an ancient Greek epic struck many as jarringly out of place, and the complaints have spread fast. Combined with the all-American accents on display throughout, some viewers have found it difficult to suspend their disbelief, but shouldn’t they be doing that for something that is considered a work of fiction and mythology? I don’t seem to recall anyone having any problems when Quentin Tarantino let his actors do whatever they wanted in a historical context. Why should we care about what Nolan is doing with these characters in a non-fiction text? What? Just because it takes place in geographical locations that are based within reality, we should expect a movie that contains Cyclops Polyphemus, sirens, giants, and the nymph Calypso to do the same?
Of course, there’s the armor, which has been a hot-button topic since the first teaser dropped. Historians and enthusiasts were quick to point out that the costumes, particularly the helmets worn by Odysseus and Agamemnon, appear to be drawn from a period several centuries after Homer’s epic would supposedly have taken place. The broader aesthetic complaint is that Nolan has leaned into a grim, dark visual palette that some feel is at odds with the vivid, sun-drenched world of Mycenaean Greece.
But here’s the thing, though: we’ve been here before with Nolan.
Every single one of Nolan’s films has arrived with some version of this discourse attached because once you obtain his level of popularity within the Film Twitter bubble, that’s always going to happen to drum up engagement and clicks (I’m no better, hence why I’m writing this article) and just by sheer law of averages considering how much name recognition he has and marketing his films obtain. “The Dark Knight Rises” was going to be a disaster, and could never live up to 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” until it did. “Interstellar” was considered too cold and cerebral, and now it’s considered Nolan’s most beloved film. Many complained “Dunkirk” lacked typical characterization. “Oppenheimer” was perceived as three hours of talking heads in rooms about a bomb, and even if it was…it was always riveting to watch. Each time, Nolan has walked into the (usually packed) theater with one of his films, he has (mostly) silenced every skeptic who had written him off based on a two-minute trailer.
His track record speaks for itself. Over the course of more than two decades, Nolan has built one of the most remarkable bodies of work in contemporary cinema. He has repeatedly proven that he can make non-franchise, original-concept blockbusters that not only dominate the box office but earn genuine critical acclaim and awards recognition along the way.
“Oppenheimer” wasn’t just another box office hit; thanks in part due to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, the R-rated drama grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide and earned Nolan his long-overdue Academy Award for Best Director. Now, coming off that massive success, some are correct to point out that expectations for his latest might be too high as he’s turning his attention to what may be the greatest adventure story ever told. That level of anticipation has made his harshest critics and most loyal defenders louder than ever, but we shouldn’t let that noise overshadow what is actually happening here.
We should not undersell how ambitious and special this project actually is. “The Odyssey” reportedly has a budget of $250 million, the most expensive film of Nolan’s career by a significant margin. It was shot in multiple countries across Morocco, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Iceland, Western Sahara, and Malta. And perhaps most remarkably, it is the first narrative feature film in history to be shot entirely on IMAX 70mm cameras, a technological leap that Nolan has been building toward for years and that promises to deliver images unlike anything audiences have ever seen on screen.
As said on Stephen Colbert last night, the film is reportedly structured in a non-linear fashion, which, as anyone familiar with Nolan’s filmography will know, is less a gimmick than a signature, a way of telling stories on screen that makes his films unique and feel like massive events that you need to rush to the theater to experience right away.
The ensemble Nolan has assembled is staggering. Matt Damon leads as Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Robert Pattinson as the villainous Antinous, Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron as Circe, and Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, Mia Goth, and Elliot Page, among many (emphasis on many) others.
Are the “daddy” and “dad” lines a little jarring? Sure. Are the costumes historically inaccurate? Possibly. But “The Odyssey” is not a documentary, and Christopher Nolan is not a filmmaker who makes mistakes this large unless there’s some serious intention behind them. He’s still the same director who was criticized for casting Heath Ledger as the Joker, and look how that turned out. Ledger went on to deliver one of the most iconic villain performances in cinema history and won a posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
What that trailer does show, without question, is the scale, ambition, and the kind of craftsmanship that simply does not exist anywhere else in mainstream cinema right now. This is Nolan’s blank-check film, and given his previous track record, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt here. I myself was a skeptic when the first trailer dropped, and the prologue, admittedly, didn’t fully win me over either. But as the months have gone on, I’ve slowly been won over and reminded myself of other times Nolan was doubted. The battle sequences look awesome. The IMAX photography, even compressed for a digital trailer, hints at something genuinely awe-inspiring that will need to be seen on the biggest screen anyone can access this summer. And the story at the center of it all has endured for nearly three thousand years for very good reason. I’ll be there. Will you?
Have you seen the new trailer for “The Odyssey” yet? If so, what did you think of it? Are you excited to see the film despite what many are saying online about it? Do you already have your tickets? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account.
