A group of movie critics saw Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey last week. They posted social media impressions about the film, all of which were uniformly positive. Now, we are on round 2, just a few days ahead of the The Odyssey’s official premiere this weekend, as a new invite-only preview has spawned yet another host of online takes, many of which are from the press.
Well, guess what? Like the first batch, they are unanimously glowing. Not just glowing, some are so over the top it’s almost hard to believe. Here is a sampling:
- Austin Burke: “#TheOdyssey is an experience… Maybe THE experience of 2026. Nolan has crafted something monumental. While it’s an impressive spectacle, the performances are fantastic… A few of them are nomination locks.”
- Stephen Ford: “the odyssey is the kinda movie where you find yourself completely forgetting you’re even watching a movie. it felt like i was dreaming. a mythical nightmare that blends elements from all of nolan’s films. so lucky to see this in theaters. i’m in awe that this movie even exists.”
- Gene Park (Washington Post): “im absolutely speechless. what an experience.”
They go on like this indefinitely. The worst one I’ve seen is a “mixed” review:
- Edward Douglas: “Gonna struggle to give The Odyssey more than a mixed review cause it suffers from many issues, including lighting, pacing, and a muddy sound mix that made it tough to understand anything or anyone. Best parts were the ones involving things like Circe and the Cyclops.”
There is, of course, still the frequent skepticism on social media that anyone invited to an early screening will be biased toward liking the film. This ignores the countless times this happens with every single movie that is screened for press, where those films range in scores from 0% to 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes scale. It doesn’t make sense that this is some sort of cabal put in place by Universal to artificially boost the film’s hype. I would brace for low, review-bombed user scores for The Odyssey, however, as with the online discourse it has spawned about its casting of minority actors and alleged “faithfulness to the source material,” things are obviously heading in that direction. That may not be the case on Rotten Tomatoes, where anti-bombing measures now make moviegoers verify they actually saw the film (thanks, Captain Marvel). If you want a preview of the situation brewing here, you can read the comments under practically any Odyssey social media post on the internet, including many of these reviews.
The next question is box office. It seems like a reach that Nolan can top his Batman movies, but a more immediate comparison is Oppenheimer, which grossed $975 million. Then, of course, awards. Critics are already saying The Odyssey is a serious contender for a slew of them, and Oppenheimer won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, among others. We’ll see how The Odyssey stacks up.
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