The Odyssey (2026)

 Plot of The Odyssey: The film is presented mainly in flashback by various participants, but we’ll try to put it in order. On the island of Ithaca the queen, Penelope, holds off a whole bunch of suitors who want to marry her because it is believed that her husband Odysseus is dead. She says that when she has completed weaving a shroud for him she will choose someone. Her son Telemachus wants to find out what has happened to his father. But at the other end of their world the Greek army, after ten years on the beach at Troy decide on a plan to sort things out by tricking the Trojans with a wooden horse apparently left as an offering. This results in the sacking of Troy after which the guys sail towards home, Odysseus taking what he thinks is a short route. But no, he and his men are beset by multiple problems, their numbers reduced by one confrontation after another, despite Odysseus’s support by the goddess Athene.  And eventually Odysseus is alone, having been rescued by the goddess Calypso, who wants to keep him. But he wants to get home. Years have passed. The suitors are impatient, his son is distressed, his hunting dog is dying. How will it end?

Content: No sex or nudity, even possible rapes during the sacking of Troy, are shown only as struggles in the shadows. Probably some drinking during feasts of which there are a number, but no drunkenness. The suitors led by Antinous, are a boisterous gang occupying the main hall of Penelope’s castle. The wooden horse is left in the shallows of the ocean and dragged into the city of Troy. The soldiers inside are generally distressed. Odysseus goes to sea in a large ship in what we have come to believe is the Viking style. On the voyage he and his men are faced with monsters, a witch, a whirlpool and the sirens and gradually their numbers are reduced. In order to placate the dead he visits Hades, but has to run away from the large numbers of souls. Eventually Poseidon, unseen but influential, destroys their ship in a storm so that only Odysseus survives, to be rescued by the goddess Calypso with whom he lives for seven years. But eventually he has to go home and face the problems which his absence has caused.

A View: Well, this was not quite my film, although I was impressed. Maybe you have to see it in IMAX. The fragmented style, with multiple people having flashbacks to the main events did not suit me. At the very least we have to acknowledge the extraordinary production values and the stellar cast. Matt Damon, who must have thought that his fighting days were over, is terrific and his scenes with Charleze Theron as Calypso are so peaceful and engaging that we wonder why he would ever want to leave. But in all the excitement I found myself with questions, starting with the horse left in the surf, why? Surely in the story it is left outside the gate. Then there is Athene. We see her now and then, but does she do anything? And there is more, but they really did take the Viking ship out in quite challenging conditions. I found myself concerned for the crew. And after all this, probably if you are a cinema enthusiast like me, you will be going to see it, and if you don’t know the story of the Odyssey, just enjoy the spectacle.

Fun Fact:  The whole film was shot in IMAX despite the fact that an IMAX camera can only hold three minutes of film.