Grand scale: The Trojans receive a gift in ‘The Odyssey’.

THE ODYSSEY **** (172 minutes) M
For all its mythical heft, Homer’s Odyssey – one of history’s great storytelling templates – is, in essence, a rollicking adventure and uber-director Christopher Nolan has done a singularly stupendous job reworking it for a mass audience.

One could even dare call it a super-sized boy’s own adventure, full of action, peril, danger and a few ghastly monsters.

And done on a colossal, enthralling, all-encompassing scale, long the M.O. of one of our pre-eminent cinematic storytellers à la Interstellar, Dunkirk, Inception, the Dark Knight trilogy.

After his victory at Troy, thanks to his classic subterfuge with the giant horse, Greek warrior King Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his men try sailing back home to Ithaca after a decade’s absence. 

Awaiting him is his loyal queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and even more loyal son Telemachus (Tom Holland), who is wary of all the suitors lining up for her hand and a claim to the kingdom.

Shot entirely in Imax and with loads of practical set pieces in place of the digital shortcuts most filmmakers working on this scale would opt for, Nolan delivers a truly grand journey, often propelled by a propulsive, rhythmic music score (as in Dunkirk).

The voyage home is full of memorable peril as the ever-diminishing battalion of weary, hungry soldiers have expensive run-ins with Cyclops, who likes chowing down on people, a devious witch (Samantha Morton), and a murderous squad of over-sized soldiers who send Odysseus and his boys running back to the ocean, where an angry Poseidon awaits with some stormy weather.

One of the reasons we love Nolan is because he never does anything by halves, insisting on authenticity and that visual texture you only get staging things in front of the camera and, of course, shooting on film.

So, when boats get caught in a storm or a city is destroyed, it looks it. 

Not wanting to use Hollywood whiskers, he even made Matt Damon spend a year growing a real beard.

There are quibbles, of course.

All the sword fights in The Odyssey do look and sound a bit same-same – cling cling clang – and the Trojan Horse of legend, as depicted in this film, doesn’t quite look big enough to contain all those men.

And while he is suitably guilt-stricken for leading so many good soldiers to unworthy deaths, Odysseus is a pretty lame excuse maker and doesn’t really command our respect as a war hero. Thankfully, Damon’s portrayal shows how heavily he carries this burden.

All up, though, a fabulous, awe-inspiring serving of epic theatre designed for mature audiences who will be too wrapped up to care about the three-hour running time.

By the way, amidst all the ballyhoo surrounding The Odyssey, honourable mention need be made of 2024’s The Return.

The indefatigable Ralph Fiennes – superb as ever – plays Odysseus in a fine film that picks up the story as he arrives on Ithaca , alone and haggard. 

Check it out for free at SBS On Demand. 

And now…

…something that needs to be said about a ghastly new phenomenon. 

You’ve heard of TDS – Trump Derangement Syndrome, yeah? 

Well, now we have its counterpart, WDS – Woke Derangement Syndrome.

WDS – not to be confused with the ASX code for Woodside Energy Group – is where anything that carries even the faintest whiff of being a bit progressive or not in strict accord with ultra-conservative values is slammed at the earliest possible opportunity.

Thus, it is now de rigueur for the release of certain big films to be preceded by an online chorus decrying the piece for promoting “woke” agendas in its casting and storytelling.

The Odyssey has not been spared as a phalanx of online pundits have ravaged the film on several fronts.

Making heads spin was the casting of Lupita Nyong’o, a black woman, as Helen of Troy, traditionally a white woman.

Also, there has been much ado about Elliot Page, with strident objections levelled at the decision to have Page play a soldier. 

As every human and their dog knows by how, Elliot Page is a trans-man who was once Ellen Page, a very talented actress who starred in Juno and in Nolan’s Inception.

So, what’s the beef? 

Apparently, Elliot Page doesn’t bear the muscular physique or towering stature to portray a Greek soldier with any conviction. Not manly enough, it seems.

Then there’s the story itself, which is supposed to have been put through a progressive, feminist filter transforming it into a narrative pushing woke tropes and diversity ideals.

Well, it all turns out to be utter tosh. As usual.

Nothing about the movie’s casting sticks out, jars or feels out of place; Page is perfectly fine; as for the story, it’s almost entirely driven by male characters.

Most annoying is how all of the volcanic criticisms made against The Odyssey were made before any of the pundits had actually seen it. 

All attacks were based on watching – and repeatedly rewatching – the trailer, along with interview snippets and out-of-context quotation.

It’s got to stop.

This notion of doing “deep dives” into movie trailers, supplemented by references to film clips and press interviews, has emerged as one of the more moronic aspects of online film commentary, signalling the continued decline of quality, considered cinema critique. 

We saw it with Snow White, which endured two years of pre-release bashing and bullying of Rachel Zegler, mainly via the endless replaying of a two-second quip she made on the red carpet. (“Weird, Weird…That’s Hollywood, Baby”.)

We’ve just seen it with Supergirl. OK, not a great movie but was there any excuse for the Milly Alcock pile on? She did a good job – but her crime? She doesn’t look enough like Helen Slater, star of 1984’s Supergirl.

As for the 2024 musical-drama Emilia Pérez, all the fiery and elaborate claims that it was nothing but a slab of transgender propaganda – also based solely on trailers and select clips – promptly evaporated once you actually saw the film. 

If anything, Emilia Pérez questioned aspects of trans identity, masculine behaviour and built much of its narrative on Catholic values. And it was a good yarn.

By now humanity must be totally sick to death of all the negative, agenda-driven anti-publicity that precedes so many films these days. It’s predictable and boring.

Enough already with this nonsense. 

So long as someone can do the job convincingly and got it fairly, who cares?

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