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The Odyssey (2026)

Directed by Q25191 · 172 min

Extraordinary production that never quite made us care about Odysseus. The story at home is more compelling than the voyage.

Jeff Ward

4/5

Matt Ward

4/5

Discussed on Episode 1: Spider-man, Odyssey, and Top 5 Best Pictures · Jump to 19:53

Jeff

Expectations were sky high: sold-out theaters, no IMAX 70mm seats to be had, and a genuine cultural moment. Jeff never felt invested in Matt Damon's Odysseus, and at points didn't care whether he lived or died. The storyline at home, with Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and Robert Pattinson, was more compelling. Some set pieces fell flat, especially the Sirens, where the crew puts wax in their ears and simply sails by. He was also surprised by how little score there is. He did love the ending sequence, where Matt Damon gets to go full Bourne.

Matt

Matt agrees the production is phenomenal, but the storytelling and pacing felt flat, like "here's another island." Some of the omissions hurt, like leaving out the "Nobody" trick with the Cyclops, which is what shows Odysseus' cunning. Adapting an epic means making cuts, but these cut into the character. As lovers of film scores, we both missed having a memorable soundtrack for a movie on this scale.

Family movie night

Rated R. The violence gets heavier in the final sequence and there's some unnecessary profanity, but Matt calls it a fairly tame R. Still not one for young kids.