The Odyssey earns its 173 minutes, and if you want one big screen swing at Greek myth this year, this is the one to build an evening around. It holds an 8 rating from 2,580 votes, and the pitch is exactly what it says: Odysseus, King of Ithaca, trying to get home from the Trojan War while gods and monsters keep moving the finish line. Adventure, action and fantasy, played straight rather than winked at.
The strongest evidence for taking it seriously is the shape of the thing. This is a myth about cunning under pressure, and the overview promises trials that stretch Odysseus past cunning into something more fragile, which is a harder and more interesting target than a monster of the week voyage. Matt Damon plays Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope and Tom Holland as Telemachus, so the story keeps its second front: a house back in Ithaca that is not simply waiting quietly. Robert Pattinson appears as Antinous, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Himesh Patel as Eurylochus and John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, which tells you the episodes along the way are cast as characters rather than obstacles.
It is directed and written by Christopher Nolan, produced with Emma Thomas, shot by Hoyte van Hoytema and scored by Ludwig Goransson. That combination sets an expectation you should factor into your plan: scale, sound and image doing a lot of the storytelling work. An 8 average across 2,580 votes is a strong number, though a vote count that size is still an early reading rather than a settled consensus, so treat it as a signal instead of a verdict.
The honest caveat
Two things could put you off, and both come straight from the facts. The first is length. At 173 minutes this is a commitment, and an epic built out of successive trials tends to feel every one of them if the middle stretch is not for you. The second is the cast list itself. Twelve credited roles across a voyage narrative means several of these faces pass through for one movement of the story, so if you go in hoping for a sustained ensemble, you may find the structure keeps handing you new company and taking it away again.
Who should pick it: viewers who like myth treated as a survival story, who do not mind a long first act, and who want a 2026 adventure film with a bard, a sea and a body count rather than a franchise obligation. Who should skip it: anyone who wants the ninety minute version, because there is no version of this material at that length here.
