Robert Pattinson Australia

RPAU ROUNDUP: First Reactions to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

7 July 2026

With the world premiere of The Odyssey hitting the Odeon Luxe Leceister Square, we have our first reactions to the film as the embargo seems to be lifted. Happy to say that this is from film critics and not influencers (sorry influencers but you rarely do your homework).

Joshua Rothkopf (LA Times): THE ODYSSEY is staggering. Earthy, ghostly, weighty, touched by humor and grandeur alike. It’s pure cinema. Obviously the story is about returning home, but in a larger sense, this is also a return home to the robustly entertaining action movies that cinema was invented to tell.

Phil de Semlyen (Time Out): Believe the hype(rbole): The Odyssey is that film. Dense but accessible, packed with career-best work from the stacked cast – Samantha Morton is extraordinary – it’s a dizzying mix of craft and spectacle that’s built to last.

Seen it twice, took so much away both times: a chilling vision of brutalised men seeing themselves in the eyes of women, a study of leadership and an old-school sweeping adventure tale. Even the cyclops got me in the feels. There’s even a few laughs, too. Go see. Twice.

Jazz Tangcay (Variety): I have seen Christopher Nolan’s #TheOdyssey, and it is an astonishing achievement. A triumphant, spectacular epic. The performances from Tom Holland, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson and Lupita Nyong’o are genuinely grand. And for some, truly, the best performances of their career!

Christopher Nolan is a visionary, and #TheOdyssey is a work of art. Adapting a Homer classic is not easy, but he has done an incredible job of bringing this to the big screen and telling Odysseus’s journey. He has outdone himself. You could feel the passion in his storytelling. You feel the passion in the crafts and the acting. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shoots to perfection, and the crafts: costume, sound, editing and Ludwig Goransson’s score are phenomenal artistry and so visceral. The battle scenes, especially at Troy, are breathtaking. It’s an incredible epic.

Steven Weintraub (Collider): 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.

Perri Nemiroff (Collider): 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 heart. … And, of course, that’s also heavily tied to Nolan’s roster of top-tier actors. For now, I’ll put the spotlight on Tom Holland. I’m often wowed by his work, but there’s something about seeing him jump from scene partner to scene partner in The Odyssey that had me in awe of his screen presence, his chemistry with his co-stars, and how clearly he’s able to elevate scenes in a unique way with each and every one of them.

Peter Bradshaw (Guardian): Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is a colossal origin-myth story of postwar disillusion and a loss of innocence witnessed by the dead. Review later.

Anne Thompson (Indiewire): My high expectations were met at Chris Nolan’s stunningly mounted The Odyssey in IMAX 70 mm. Matt Damon could win Best Actor and a bevy of supporting thesps and noms will follow. The BP to beat.

David Ehrlich (Indiewire): 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.

Erik Davis (Fandango | Rotten Tomatoes): Christopher Nolan’s #TheOdyssey is an absolute triumph and a crowning cinematic achievement from one of the great filmmakers of our time. It feels like everything Nolan has been working toward with IMAX has culminated here. The production design is incredible, the action is breathtaking, and the scale is unlike anything he’s done before. What really surprised me is how much he embraces horror. Some of the film’s biggest moments are genuinely unsettling, adding a whole new dimension to his filmmaking while never losing sight of the humanity at the story’s core. The cast is stacked, and somehow everyone still gets a chance to shine. Anne Hathaway is incredible, Matt Damon is excellent, and Tom Holland continues to prove he can do just about anything. But Robert Pattinson absolutely stole the show for me. He’s so conniving, manipulative and endlessly entertaining to watch. Pattinson leans all the way into the character’s villainy, and it results in one of my favorite performances of his. Look, it’s the must-see cinematic event of the summer — and quite possibly the year. I can’t wait to watch it again. [my emphasis]

Lou Thomas (BFI): The Odyssey truly delivers. Christopher Nolan’s film is a huge action-adventure spectacle full of blood and thunder. Matt Damon a worthy hero and big performances across the board with Himesh Patel, John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson, Elliot Page and Samantha Morton my picks. Ace.

David Crow (Den of Geek): 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…Must save more for the review, but short version: Anne Hathaway is the sincere anchor of the film and is phenomenal. My faves though are Samantha Morton as Circe and Rob Pattinson chewing scenery. Lupita Nyong’o is great but only briefly in it. Charize/Calypso not in it enough. [my emphasis]

DigitalSpy: “The Odyssey is staggering. Packed with intense and spectacular set pieces, often backed by a soul-rattling score, it builds to a final act that’s as good as anything Nolan’s done. Purists might baulk at the adaptation changes, but as an experience, nobody is doing it like Nolan.”

“The cast is massive but the supporting turns from Robert Pattinson, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, and John Leguizamo impressed me the most.”