We’ve Been Thinking Of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Wrong

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Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, The Odyssey, is already generating huge buzz as the must-see movie of 2026. Early marketing focuses on its massive scope and impressive production. Nolan, known for creating blockbuster films, is adapting the classic epic with a star-studded cast and cutting-edge IMAX cameras. While it’s hard to say if it will be the best film of the year, it’s sure to be one of the most spectacular.

The initial trailer for The Odyssey, shown in theaters with Avatar: Fire & Ash and released online December 22nd, showcased the film’s impressive scale. However, it also made me rethink what to expect from the movie. Considering the director’s previous films, The Odyssey might be a departure from his usual style – a very different kind of movie than many anticipated.

The Odyssey Looks Less Like Oppenheimer & More Like Dunkirk

I thought Nolan did something really clever with the casting in Oppenheimer. It wasn’t just that he used a lot of famous actors, but almost everyone in the movie felt like someone I recognized. Given that the film was about all these important figures involved in the Manhattan Project, it instantly made you feel like even the smaller roles were significant. It didn’t feel like a typical ensemble cast, more like a gathering of a lot of strong, individual personalities.

At first glance, the upcoming film adaptation of The Odyssey seems to follow a familiar structure, much like the original story. Homer’s epic is known for its self-contained episodes and memorable characters who appear only in specific parts. Director Christopher Nolan has filled these roles with a series of big-name actors, sparking a lot of curiosity about the casting. While some actors have been announced (and the Odyssey trailer recently revealed who will play Agamemnon), others are still a mystery. However, the overall effect of this star-studded cast is expected to be similar to Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

Watching the new trailer, the Christopher Nolan film that immediately came to mind was Dunkirk. Like that World War II movie, this one seems to focus more on a group of characters than individual stars. Even when characters have names, they aren’t emphasized. The film appears to be about capturing the feeling of a shared experience and the relationships within the group as a whole.

While the trailer features close-ups of key characters like Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, and Tom Holland as Telemachus, it mostly focuses on Odysseus and his crew during their difficult journey home. This suggests that director Christopher Nolan wants to immerse the audience in the shared struggles of the entire group. The film will put viewers right alongside them, experiencing everything from the hardships of sailing to the fear of facing creatures like the cyclops. Though the famous actors lead the story, the whole cast – and the audience – will truly live through the adventure together.

Given the epic scope of The Odyssey, audiences will likely expect big action sequences, and this first trailer only hints at what’s possible. However, Christopher Nolan seems more focused on showing the gritty, real-life struggles of Odysseus’s crew than on the grand pronouncements of gods and heroes.

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2025-12-22 21:00