Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal walk into a bar. Is this an Odyssey joke or a Spider-Man joke? Probably the latter, as the three don’t share any scenes in the former. Nevertheless, it was an odd experience to see two films sharing so many actors in common over one weekend.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, to breeze quickly over it, is something of an unusual success for a Marvel release these days. With a solid emotional core and its themes carefully threaded throughout its plot, it didn’t even need a surprise cameo to spice things up. Though it may have done so anyway. Or not. (Spoilers) Two thumbs up from this occasional reviewer of all things Marvel, and I’m at least 5% less despondent than I was about the prospect of Avengers: Doomsday later this year.

As for the meat of the matter and the subject of this article, let’s get on to it. In the blue corner we have Homer’s Odyssey, one half of a tag team with The Iliad standing at the base of Western literature and culture, hailing from parts unknown or at least heavily obscured by the passage of centuries and the death of the oral tradition it arose from. In the red corner we have Christopher Nolan, perhaps the most consistently successful blockbuster filmmaker of recent times, and one whose oeuvre has held onto an intellectual edge that has elevated both it and him above the spangly lights of most contemporary CGI-heavy cinematic fare.

Having had a go at black holes, dreamscapes, time travel, atom bombs, magic, and Batman, Nolan has at last come around to the the sword and sandal epic, albeit in the form of the aforementioned foundational myth, which Nolan seems to have been thinking about for years. It shows. This is a film into which Nolan has poured a great deal of thought, both in terms of what the story means and how it relates to the modern world. That effort and engagement with the text has been amply rewarded, both in terms of the box office and the response of the rest of the world to his film, even if some of that response has been a bit tetchy at times.

Within the confines of a three hour film, Nolan has been impressively faithful to his subject material. While removing some sections and simplifying others, the structure remains the same: Odysseus (Matt Damon), hero of the Trojan War, has been absent from his kingdom of Ithaca for almost two decades. In that time, his hall has become infested with parasitic guests that his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), must keep at bay. His son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), aspires to find his missing father, even as Odysseus languishes in the arms of Calypso. And the gods … well, the gods in this version of the story mostly keep their own counsel.

I’m not an academic, let alone a Homeric expert in the mould of Emily Wilson, and this isn’t going to be a thorough analysis of The Odyssey with regards to where it stands among other adaptations of Homer’s original (I’d put it behind James Joyce’s Ulysses and Jean Chalopin’s Ulysses 31, myself.) For a true appreciation of Nolan’s efforts, the best solution is to go see the film itself—I’d consider it well worth the price of admission, especially so if you see it on the biggest screen you can. My first viewing was via a 70mm projector, and I hope to grab an IMAX screening to compare, contrast, and solidify my thoughts. In the meantime, this will be a few quick thoughts on Nolan as a filmmaker and what he brings to this ancient tale, for good and for ill.

From hereon, there will be SPOILERS. Consider yourself warned.

Continue reading In a Mythic Register—Nolan’s “The Odyssey” →