Just like the red carpet can be rolled out for a visiting leader, I’m going to roll out the red carpet for you, because after a relaxing time hanging out with UMC1 and UMC2, I’m back with more stupid ideas and badly translated English to entertain you.

So what could I possibly write to kick off the second half of 2026? Yes, I have been alluding to this for a few weeks now, but today’s blog is my preview for The Odyssey. It’s funny, because lately on this highly popular blog, I’ve recently completed movie previews/reviews about Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, and Supergirl, with Spider-Man: Brand New Day still to come as well.

If you’re new to this account, I promise that I do write about other things; it’s just this Summer’s (Winter for me) movies have been interesting enough for me to conduct my highly successful movie previews/reviews. Clear as mud? Awesome.

I’ve been looking forward to The Odyssey for several reasons, which, because nobody asked for it, I will now break down for you:

1.) I’m a fan of Christopher Nolan’s films. One day, I will write a blog post about the recurring theme among them, but not today.

2.) Being a geek, I’m a fan of history and mythology, and what better crossover of these subjects can you get in The Odyssey, other than Hellboy?

As always with my previews, I purchase an advanced ticket, because…say it with me…I’m a geek. However, something rare has happened on this account, as I strive to maintain transparency here. Typically, I write the preview, publish the preview, watch the movie, then write the review and publish it. However, with my Mid-Winter break coinciding with the release of The Odyssey, I decided to make an executive decision and watch the movie.

This means, by the time of the publication of this blog post (27th July), I would have already seen the movie. So, The Odyssey’s order is this: Write the preview, watch the movie, publish the preview, then write the review and publish it. This slight alternative to the system will probably carry over to Spider-Man: Brand New Day also.

I apologise in advance if my tenses are a bit weird in this blog post, since again, I’m writing the preview before I’ve seen the movie, but you’ll read it after I’ve seen it. Sorry, I’ll shut up about this. Ok, where were we? Oh right, for those (un)lucky enough not to understand what The Odyssey is about, you have come to the correct place. Maybe.

I have to interject with a pointless reference; I will be discussing two versions of the Odyssey. The first is the book (poem), which will be identified as The Odyssey, while the second reference will be the movie, which will be identified in italics as The Odyssey. This is to avoid confusion for you, other readers, and me, the absent-minded writer. Did I need to include this in the blog? Absolutely not. Did I want to? Absolutely yes!

The film is based on an epic poem that has been translated and adapted into a book, which is famous around the planet.¹ It was written by Homer, an ancient Greek poet who lived around the 8th century BCE, who wrote The Odyssey and its predecessor, The Iliad, around the same time.

I do need to state that The Odyssey was a famous legend, passed down by storytellers for hundreds of years, before it was written down and became a bedrock of ancient Greek literature, and like the works of Shakespeare, it became a staple in high school English classes.

It has been reworked, reimagined, and adapted into several media over the centuries because of its powerful themes and messages. The Odyssey tells the timeless tale of revenge, love, regret, guilt, children, war, loss, marriage, grief, death, hope, compassion, loyalty, and just about everything else you can cram into it. The Odyssey has been with me since primary school, which, in all honesty, says more about me than the story.

The most basic, stripped-down version of the story that I can create is this:

A man leaves his island, kingdom, and family, and goes to war, with the majority of the fighting men on the island for 10 years. It then takes him another 10 years to return to the island, with all of the men he took having been killed, and he has to deal with the consequences of leaving in the first place, and what he did during the war and after it. This is not an ancient Greek rom-com, nor will the movie be.

And speaking of the movie, I believe The Odyssey’s budget was US$250 million, which is more than the budgets of Minions & Monsters, Obsession, Backrooms, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Jackass: Best and Last, Evil Dead Burn, and Bring Her Back combined.

Before I waffle on even more, we’re going to be discussing names from a movie that are based on a piece of Greek literature that is over 2,000 years old. With the pronunciation of these names, I’m not going to lecture you about how to pronounce them, because I’m not an expert myself.

Basically, pronounce them however you wish, except if you’re actually Greek, then there is no excuse for getting them wrong. So, with that fantastic introduction out of the way, let’s move on to the preview.

WARNING, WE HAVE HAD OVER 2,000 YEARS, BUT THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!

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Am I looking forward to watching The Odyssey?

As I mentioned before, I’m a fan of Christopher Nolan’s movies, history, and mythology, so The Odyssey fits inside my wheelhouse. Odysseus, the main protagonist and yet at the same time, an antagonist, is a complex character who has been analysed for centuries for his victories and defeats.

It’s one of the reasons the tale of the Odyssey has endured long enough for Nolan to decide to write a screenplay and direct a movie about one of the smartest men in Ancient Greece, who got lost trying to get home; a two week journey became 10 years. Ouch.

Speaking about the movie, the cast includes Matt Damon (Odysseus), Anne Hathaway (Penelope), Tom Holland (Telemachus), Robert Pattinson (Antinous) Lupita Nyong’o (Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra), Samantha Morton (Circe), John Leguizamo (Eumaeus), Zendaya (Athena), Charlize Theron (Calypso), Jon Bernthal (Menelaus), Himesh Patel (Eurylochus), Bill Irwin (Polyphemus), Elliot Page (Sinon), and Benny Safdie (Agamemnon).

A few of these actors have worked with Nolan before, like Damon, Hathaway, Pattinson, and Page, which always suggests to me, that the actors and director actually like working together. That’s always a positive thing, right?

Obviously, it costs more money, but I do appreciate the filmmakers putting in the extra effort with building massive sets, using a vast array of practical effects, and employing hundreds, if not thousands of extras. I’m a sucker for epics, so The Odyssey is a film that, I believe, fits that criteria.

I’m still waiting for Hollywood, or quite frankly anybody else, whether it’s animated or live-action, to release the trilogy, nobody seems to have the guts to do: The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid. Imagine using the same actors and voice actors, but also filming them back-to-back; the continuity would be amazing!

Yes, they were written by different authors, centuries apart, but they are interconnected, as well as overlap each other, and in my very humble opinion, form one long narrative. Though to be fair, Hollywood did dabble with the Iliad in the form of 2004’s Troy.²

I do understand the film has faced some backlash for making “woke” casting choices, as well as a call for a boycott of the film over the scenes filmed in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.

What is the movie about?

According to universalpictures.co.nz, the premise is this:

Christopher Nolan’s next film, The Odyssey, is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX® film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX® film screens for the first time and opens in cinemas everywhere on July 16, 2026.

The Odyssey stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong’o, with Zendaya and Charlize Theron.

The Odyssey is produced by Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan for their company, Syncopy. The executive producer is Thomas Hayslip.

This description leaves a lot to the imagination, however Wikipedia, as usual, saves the day with:

The Odyssey follows Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, on his long and perilous journey home following the Trojan War, chronicling his encounters with mythical beings such as the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and the nymph Calypso, while attempting to reunite with his wife, Penelope.

What can we expect?

The running time for The Odyssey is 172 minutes, so realistically, you would be in the theatre for over three hours if you combine adverts, trailers, and the movie. Classic films that have lasted over 170 minutes have included Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler’s List, and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, so The Odyssey is in good company. After three hours, though, your bladder and stomach may not agree.

Once again, as I have already stated, The Odyssey is going to be like the nature of the poem: epic. I know Nolan has a reputation for using practical effects over CGI, leading the public to speculate that he would detonate a real nuclear weapon for Oppenheimer.

I expect to see some fantastic sets, stunning costumes, and even more gorgeous practical effects, especially in the forms of the monsters, like Scylla, Charybdis, Helios’s Cattle, Sirens, Laestrygonians, and Polyphemus; though, to be honest, I’m not sure if they will all be in the movie.

It’s cool that Nolan has involved the Greek Gods in the movie, because the Trojan War, famously between Greece and Troy, caused divisions between the Gods themselves. Some were on the Greeks’ side, some were supporting the Trojans, some were neutral, while others didn’t care.

Of all of the movie previews I have done, I think The Odyssey has been the most difficult to write about because humanity has had over 2,000 years to develop and adapt it into different mediums, so after thousands of years, there are not many things left to talk about; only what Nolan has kept, what he’s thrown away, the order of events, and maybe, just maybe, something new.

I also have to wonder how Odysseus will be portrayed: heroic, dangerous, clever, deceitful, faithful, sexist, wise, a mass murderer, or a combination of all of these. It’s hard to root for a king to return to his faithful and loving wife and son after 20 long years away, having slept with at least two women, killed countless men, got all of his men killed, and helped to destroy and ravage a city, where the citizens, not just soldiers, are massacred, robbed, or enslaved.

As I said earlier, Odysseus is a complex character, but we also need to view him not through a 21st-century CE lens, but through a 12th-century BCE standard. You can argue whether Odysseus was a real person or not, but his story is timeless, and still needs to be retold, if nothing else, as entertainment or as a warning of hubris.

Do I have concerns?

This is arguably the biggest film of the Summer (Again, Winter for me), so there is a lot of pressure on it to live up to the hype. Added that it’s based on a story that’s thousands of years old, and has been retold countless times, so of course, I have concerns.

Here are some of my questions:

• Will the film open with an exposition about the Trojan War?
• Will the film start in the Iliad, and move into the Odyssey, or will it be told with flashbacks?
• How graphic will the battle scenes be, or the monsters killing Odysseus’ men?
• How will Nolan mark the passage of time in the film?
• Will there be an epilogue?
• Tom Holland is 30 years old, so is it believable that he is playing a 20-year-old man whose mother is Anne Hathaway?
• How much screen time will be given to Odysseus’ return to Ithaca?
• Will we see the plough and donkey scene?
• Will a 21st-century perspective be placed on the film, considering it is set over 3,000 years ago?
• Will conservatives be correct that the woke casting choices derail the movie?
• How will the monster be shown? CGI or practical effects or both?
• How will Calypso and Circe be portrayed?
• Can the sacking and destruction of Troy be laid at Odysseus’ feet?
• How much PTSD will Odysseus have, if any?
• How will Nyong’o go with her dual roles?
• Will there be any other appearances of Greek Gods, apart from Athena?
• Will Aeneas be mentioned or shown?

There’s probably more questions, but I can’t think of them right now, sorry.

And to end this woeful rant, it’s more of a hope than a question, but I hope Argos has been cut from the film. I saw The Return recently with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche³, and Odysseus’ reunion with Argos was hard to watch, because I forgot about that scene to my shame. Argos was a good boy, and I stopped the movie because I had started crying. What an idiot!

Odysseus and Telemachus slaughter a room full of suitors, and I will have no reaction. Odysseus and Penelope reunite, and I will have no reaction. Odysseus’s dog, Argos, waits 20 years to see his master, and then dies; pass the tissues.

I swear, I can’t make it through any form of entertainment where a dog dies, and I don’t cry.

I believe this movie will be a juggernaut, but only time will tell if critics and fans like it; though the film studio will be opening its coffers for that sweet, sweet money.

Alright, that’s it. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Remember to walk your dog, read a banned book, Bin for the Win, and I’ll see you next week for The Odyssey: Movie Review.

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¹ Suck it Flat Earthers.

² The Iliad and The Odyssey were written by Homer, while The Aeneid was written by Virgil, over 700 years later.

³ The Return was a slow burn, but it was a solid, entertaining movie. I enjoyed it.