I’m a sucker for a good Christopher Nolan blockbuster and I love the Greek classics. My only reservation about The Odyssey is that I haven’t watched Matt Damon hold down a Hollywood blockbuster in over a decade. Initial reactions from early screenings of the latest epic from the Oppenheimer director, however, suggest the movie won’t disappoint.
The Odyssey premiered on July 6 in London with the full release in theaters coming on July 17. IMAX tickets were already impossible to get. Regular screenings might start to fill up fast now, too. Full reviews for the movie starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and many more aren’t out yet, but we do have the first impressions from critics going up across social media today.
Many have praised the acting performances across the board, including Damon’s, but its the scale and detail that has most of them gushing. The movie apparently has the first “fleshed out horror sequence” ever directed by Nolan, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s Aaron Crouch, and its meticulousness has been likened to Lord of the Rings by Polygon’s Jacob Kleinman. Indie Wire’s David Ehrlich called it “too clunky to be S-tier Nolan,” but said it’s not as depressing as Oppenheimer.
While not everyone is calling The Odyssey perfect, the response so far seems to be about as positive as you could expect for a big-budget summer movie. That doesn’t mean it will be as good as the initial buzz suggests, but it’s certainly not a bad sign. My own IMAX ticket isn’t until a week after the full release. I’m ready to go through another half-dozen cycles of it’s so over/we’re so back between now and then.
Here are some of the initial reactions:
Been seeing his movies in theaters since Memento, and after 25 years, #TheOdyssey gives us a first: a fleshed out horror sequence directed by Christopher Nolan
— Aaron Couch (@AaronCouch) July 6, 2026
I’m not an influencer, just a humble interviewer. I’ll say this about The Odyssey: It’s an astonishing spectacle and a brilliant, subversive adaptation. The scale was a given, but Nolan’s psychological interrogation of events was what satisfied me most. A bracingly modern take.
— Tom Page (@thomas_page) July 6, 2026
THE ODYSSEY is a staggering achievement. It boasts spectacular & even terrifying set pieces that feel like Christopher Nolan fully embracing the horrors of Greek mythology. Yet, how he tastefully recontextualizes the story for the modern day is what has kept my head buzzing (1/2) pic.twitter.com/x1GJbwSOEK
— Andrew J. Salazar (@AndrewJ626) July 6, 2026
Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of THE ODYSSEY is as epic as movies get with some of the most breathtaking set pieces he’s ever attempted. A colossal achievement of scale, even by Nolan’s standards, its commitment to capturing as much as possible in-camera using new IMAX cameras… pic.twitter.com/UOOHd6lkbT
— Matt Neglia (@NextBestPicture) July 6, 2026
The Odyssey: a surprisingly natural (and less despairing) Oppenheimer follow-up about a man haunted by defying the gods & dooming civilization – this one fights to avenge his own hubris. IMAX obviously immense. too clunky to be S-tier Nolan, but the last act rewards the journey.
— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) July 6, 2026
I saw THE ODYSSEY last week…
It’s Christopher Nolan’s most straightforward movie ever — and also maybe his most impressive.
Both the epic scale and attention to detail are absolutely stunning. The closest comparison I can think of is Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. pic.twitter.com/ivOvDaCSY4— Jake (@jacobkleinman) July 6, 2026
THE ODYSSEY is a filmmaking feast. A grand and gripping rendition of Homer’s epic, and one that feels uniquely Christopher Nolan. It’s sincerely hard to imagine any other filmmaker on the planet being able to bring that source material to screen with this much scale, scope and… pic.twitter.com/7jOO5Ch9ZZ
— Perri Nemiroff (@PNemiroff) July 6, 2026
Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ is INCREDIBLE.
I’m really blown away by this film. Everything from the flawless performances to the way Nolan embraces the supernatural is just perfect.
If you can, SEE IT IN @IMAX 70mm. It’s a jaw dropping experience.
It’ll be great… pic.twitter.com/UXEAjF8cKk
— Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) July 6, 2026
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is MONUMENTAL on so many levels. Yes, it really does attempt to condense nearly all of Homer inside of 3 hours. But it also tackles with more heart than any Nolan film since Interstellar his greatest muse… 1/3
— David Crow (@DCrowsNest) July 6, 2026
Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of THE ODYSSEY is as epic as movies get with some of the most breathtaking set pieces he’s ever attempted. A colossal achievement of scale, even by Nolan’s standards, its commitment to capturing as much as possible in-camera using new IMAX cameras… pic.twitter.com/UOOHd6lkbT
— Matt Neglia (@NextBestPicture) July 6, 2026