My Final Odyssey Predictions

A few thoughts in advance of the movie releasing in the coming weeks

I think most people in the online world of classics are sick to death of *discourse* over Christopher Nolan's Odyssey. Instead of sparking up some complaints, debates are or anything else, I'd like my final thoughts on this to be positive - what I'm looking forward to seeing and what I expect Nolan to do with it.

Firstly, I expect Nolan to stick roughly to the non-linear narrative of the original, starting with Odysseus on Calypso's Island and Telemachus at home on Ithaca. Much of the film will still focus on Odysseus retelling his tales, though his role as narrator will probably be less important than in Homer. We will still get a lot of the climax with the suitors though, which is often easy to skip over.

Speaking of endings, I expect that we won't get much of the events of Book 24 at all, but we also won't get the simple ‘happily ever after’ ending if we were to stop mid Book 23, with Odysseus and Penelope in bed. Nolan does like a dramatic, impactful ending with either a twist or something left hanging. I am interested to see just where he goes with this, but I suspect it might pick back up on something from his travels.

Third, I expect the gods to have a very limited role with the exception of Athena. She will have some guiding/coercive part but I don't see her much getting into the thick of things and taking on too many disguises. It's a shame, because it's a great part of the story, but from a visual standpoint it would defeat the purpose of casting a big time actor in the role for her to spend the movie as someone else. I can also see the role of Hermes in freeing Odysseus from Calypso being condensed into Athena, but who knows. The councils of the gods and general discussions may not feature, and I'm not sure how much we'll actually see of Poseidon - except for his wrath at sea. I'm happy to be proved wrong though!

Finally, there will be a lot of character and relationship focus, especially the father-son bond between Telemachus and Odysseus. Nolan is never shy on dipping into this territory, as many of his other films show, and I feel like he will try to bring the most out of these complex characters. I'm hoping Penelope will be more layered than the ‘wife who got left behind’ that she often becomes, and we get to see a lot of her own craft and similarity to Odysseus.

What I'm looking forward to most is seeing Homer's great moments given time to shine, and I'm not too fussed if some small parts are skipped over. The Cyclops scene could be tricky as it's hard not to make him look ridiculous, but aside from that I hope they give enough time to the beautiful scenery of the Aegean and beyond. Nolan is known for his muted blue colour palette, but I hope we still get much of the rich natural environments rather than a bleak, gritty take on what Greece looks like.

Anyway, those are my final thoughts! What are you looking forward to or worried about? Will you be watching in theatres? Drop me a comment below!