Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey is a film adaptation of the famous ancient Greek poem by Homer. With a star-studded cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya and Charlize Theron, The Odyssey is bringing its epic adventure to cinemas worldwide.

The Odyssey follows Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, on his long and perilous journey home following the Trojan War, chronicling his encounters with mythical beings such as the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and the nymph Calypso, while attempting to reunite with his wife, Penelope.

Matt Damon leads the cast as Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca. His performance shows Odysseus to be a brave warrior faced with tough decisions both as the king of Ithaca and as a leader of his army. Damon is able to illustrate the struggles of Odysseus, conflicting with others and even himself, trying to figure out the best course of action, even if it’s at the cost of his own men.

The rest of the star-studded main cast all get big moments too. Odysseus’s wife and Queen of Ithaca, Penelope, is played by Anne Hathaway, and their son and prince of Ithaca, Telemachus, is played by Tom Holland.

Also in the film are Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Lupita Nyong’o in a dual role as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra, Zendaya as Athena, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, Himesh Patel as Eurylochus, Corey Hawkins as Polybus, Elliot Page as Sinon, James Remar as Tiresias and more. It’s hard to go into more detail without giving away major plot points, but they all get a good amount of screen time.

As talented as the cast is, a lot of them look out of place in a film based on Greek mythology. This is a common thing in Hollywood films themed around ancient Greece or anywhere in the Mediterranean, but it feels like this film didn’t try hard enough to make anyone actually look Greek.

Today, the country of Greece is multicultural, but during the 12th century BCE, which this film and the original poem was set in, it wasn’t nearly as multicultural as depicted in this film. Representation is important, of course, but this comes across as inauthentic, especially with the severe lack of actors of Greek descent, with only one, Michael Vlamis.

Adding to that, director Christopher Nolan decided to have all the characters speak with modern American accents, claiming it was a deliberate creative choice designed to make the movie feel grounded, accessible, and emotionally urgent.

The American accent didn’t start to develop until the 1700s, and this design choice ends up being distracting and makes the characters sound inauthentic. Even British actors, Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson, are putting on American accents to be consistent with the rest of the cast. Hearing a character call their father, “dad” instead of “father”, further shows they weren’t even trying to make the character use more accurate words from that time period.

Hollywood movies set in non-English-speaking countries anytime prior to the 18th century typically use British accents for the English dub, which, even though it sounded different in ancient times, has always felt more appropriate. Movies like Troy, 300, Gladiator and many other films are great examples of this.

When movies and TV series go the extra mile and have the cast speak English with accents relative to that region, it makes the characters feel even more authentic.

The hit TV series Vikings featured a diverse cast of actors, many of whom were non-Scandinavian, yet they all spoke with Scandinavian accents that were still easy to understand. This approach allowed audiences to gravitate towards the show, and it became a huge success during its run. It feels like Christopher Nolan doesn’t give audiences enough credit to give them more authentic-sounding characters. If you watch this film with your eyes closed, it wouldn’t sound like a movie set in ancient Greece at all.

Despite all of that, the main cast all put on solid performances and told a gripping story. The film is a much darker take on Greek mythology, with certain segments leaning into the horror genre. When they encounter a giant cyclops, he’s much scarier than expected and not just because of his sheer size. His strength, what he does to the soldiers and how loud he screams are nightmare-fuelled.

Other supernatural beings from Greek mythology that they encounter throughout the film also make this a world no one would want to live in. Even though this isn’t the most gory film, even the most unassuming mythical creatures are presented in such a way that makes them more frightening than anyone would expect, with its suspense and tension building.

Ancient Greece is always a great setting for some big, action-packed, epic battles to unfold. The Odyssey does have its fair share of action and fight scenes, but for audiences expecting to see a lot of action, they won’t get it here. The film is almost 3 hours long and puts more emphasis on the dialogue, which does help tell the story, but the modern American accents make it hard to take a lot of it seriously, even with their solid acting.

The first half of the movie drags on more than it should, but it gets more interesting in the second half, though it does take a while to get there. The near 3 hour runtime does help get a lot of story in, assuming audiences haven’t tapped out before it gets to the good parts.

The film does a good job of showing glimpses of what life was like in Greece during this era, thanks to the gorgeous set pieces, scenery, landscapes, Greek architecture and more. Actually filming the majority of the movie in Greece adds a lot to the authenticity, even if the same can’t be said about the casting choices and characters’ accents. The famous myth of the Trojan Horse is also featured, and the film shows what it would’ve been like for the soldiers hiding in there, cramped together for such a long time, which is certainly not a fun place to be.

The music was composed by Ludwig Göransson and features mostly deep orchestral tunes that fit in perfectly with their respective scenes. Also amongst the cast is hip-hop superstar, Travis Scott, as a bard, which is another bizarre casting choice for an ancient Greek-themed movie. He’s not in the film as much, but anytime he’s on screen, he looks very out of place. He even created an original song for this film, which can be heard when the credits roll, and let’s face it, a rap song playing at the end of the movie set in ancient Greece makes it like a joke at this point.

Christopher Nolan is one of the finest directors in the industry, but a lot of bizarre choices were made that are too hard to ignore. It feels like the movie is relying on star power to attract cinema goers. Characters with modern American accents in a movie set in ancient Greece are distracting, inauthentic and just a bizarre design choice.

It certainly has its moments, mainly with how it presents mythical creatures from Greek mythology, but the near 3 hour runtime makes the film drag a lot to get to the good parts. The Odyssey isn’t a completely terrible movie, because it still is visually appealing and has a lot of fun and exciting moments, but it isn’t a movie that audiences will be in a rush to watch a second time.

Written by: Sammy Hanson