Not many screenwriters get to share a credit with Homer.
And Christopher Nolan is one of very few directors up to the challenge of the ancient Greek poet’s classic work.
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| Warriors three: Odysseus (Matt Damon, center), Cepheus (Jimmy Gonzales, left) and Eurylochus (Himesh Patel) survey what's left of Troy, following their successful siege of the city. |
Nolan wisely holds our attention, during this three-hour masterpiece, by alternating the “money sequences” with quieter, even melancholy moments between primary characters. Indeed, judging by how Monday evening’s sold-out Sacramento crowd reacted, viewers were much more invested in what would become of Odysseus’ kingdom, during his absence, than with what he faced while struggling to return home.
Be prepared for a challenging initial character dump.
Nolan follows Homer’s template, opening the story in medias res — in the plot’s chronological middle — and then supplying What Came Before via flashbacks recounted by Odysseus and a few other key players.
Tensions are high in Ithaca, where 20 years have passed since King Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his men joined Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) in his army’s successful invasion of the city of Troy. During this time, Odysseus’ wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), has endured a palace invasion by an ever-expanding number of boorish suitors hoping to become her new husband.
She has held them at bay by promising to remarry when she finishes weaving a shroud for Odysseus’ aged father, Laertes ... but she secretly unweaves each day’s progress at night.
(And she has gotten away with this for 20 years? That doth raise an eyebrow or two.)
The suitors have remained at bay, in part, because Odysseus’ renown, skill and might leave a massive shadow, even in his absence. During one flashback, we see that he’s the only man able to string his bow, inevitably following that up with his favorite party trick: shooting an arrow through a series of bundled axe heads.
Odysseus and Penelope’s son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), has come of age during this time. But he’s more eager to find his father — or, at least, to learn if he’s alive — than challenging his mother for the throne.
But one of the suitors, Antinous (Robert Pattinson), has grown tired of waiting. His vile nature emerges early on, when he grossly insults Eumaeus (John Leguizamo), Odysseus’ loyal, loquacious friend and swineherd. Although now blind, Eumaeus still is able to tell the young man what he’s doing wrong during a swordplay training session. Leguizamo exudes honor, honestly and loyalty.
Worse yet, Antinous contemptuously abuses Argus, Odysseus’ faithful and now quite aged dog. Pattinson oozes smarmy menace, with a scowl to match. (Do we hate Antinous? You betcha.)
Such behavior violates what becomes a crucial theme, as these events proceed: Zeus’ Law, the “guest friendship” decree that decrees how hosts should and should not act, and requires them to treat all guests with respect.
Telemachus sails to Sparta, to visit Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus (Jon Bernthal), also part of the siege of Troy; the young man hopes to learn of his father’s fate. Taking advantage of this absence, Antinous hatches a plot to have the young man killed, thus removing his primary obstacle to assuming Ithaca’s throne.
But where is Odysseus?
At present, the white-bearded warrior is being held captive by the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron). For a long time, Odysseus hasn’t realized that he is a captive; she has kept him befuddled with hallucinogenic lotus leaves. But of late his memory has been returning, in fits and starts.
The astonishing saga subsequently emerges in flashbacks supplied by Odysseus, Menelaus, Eumaeus and Penelope.
Nolan hits all the obligatory high points, starting with Odysseus’ ingenious means of invading the walled city of Troy, via the Trojan Horse. Once that battle concludes, his men board three ships, hoping to sail home.
Instead, their search for provisions, along the way, finds them making landfall on islands containing the massive cyclops Polyphemus; the witch Circe (Samantha Morton); the huge, armored Laestrygonians; the cattle belonging to the sun god Apollo; the beckoning Sirens, and their deadly songs; the underworld of Hades, land of the dead; and the twin threats of the ocean whirlpool Charybdis and the multi-headed monster Scylla.
The verisimilitude is impressive throughout, because Nolan coaxes strongly persuasive performances from everybody. Damon transforms from devoted husband, to loyal warrior, to an increasingly troubled leader. Despite warnings from the goddess Athena (Zendaya), with whom he frequently converses — along with similar portents from Hades — Odysseus rashly believes that he can evade their will, and safely bring all of his men home. Damon’s bearing grow increasingly haunted, as events proceed.
Hathaway’s Penelope is appropriately regal: comfortable with her standing, but careful not to say or do anything that might encourage the many suitors into improper action. Her finest moment comes during the film’s climax, when Penelope — eyes blazing — issues a challenge that cannot be ignored.
Telemachus initially seems foolishly rash; Holland’s headstrong stubbornness is an obvious liability. But the prince learns much, as events unfold. Holland’s gaze and bearing slowly expand to include wisdom, patience and his own degree of guile.
Theron’s Calypso prompts mixed emotions. On the one hand, keeping Odysseus an unknowing captive is cruel; that said, she does initially save his life, and nurse him back to health, along the way genuinely falling in love with him. Theron deftly conveys this duality, her features increasingly sad, as she reluctantly coaxes Odysseus to remember.
Zendaya is appropriately otherworldly, but she needs to be careful; her counseling Athena differs very little from her similar portrayal of Chani, in the Dune series. At the other extreme, Morton’s Circe is flat-out scary, as she serves Odysseus’ starving men a meal we know they should not consume.
Lupita Nyong’o stands out in two brief roles: as both Helen, queen of Sparta, married to King Menelaus; and her twin sister Clytemnestra, queen of Mycenae, wife of the imperious King Agamemnon. Nyong’o’s performance as the latter is particularly wrenching.
Mia Goth makes the most of her pivotal role as the treacherous Melantho, one of Penelope’s servants.
Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema — who won an Oscar for lensing Nolan’s Oppenheimer — adroitly handles luxuriously epic battle sequences, tempestuous ocean voyages, the terrifying claustrophobia of Polyphemus’ dark cavern, and quieter moments of unexpected intimacy.
Although Nolan and editor Jennifer Lame repeatedly maximize tension and excitement during the various epic confrontations, they take equal care developing the increasingly tense palace intrigue, along with Odysseus’ desperate plight. This is, above all else, the saga of a man trying to get back to his wife and son, who is willing to do whatever it takes to get there.
Everything builds to a rousing, crowd-pleasing climax back in Ithaca. When the screen finally goes black, and the credits role, exhausted and exhilarated viewers will know they’ve experienced something special.
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