Epic storytelling brings the original anti-hero to life
⭐⭐⭐Rating: 3 out of 4
Christopher Nolan’s $250 million retelling of Homer’s classic sword-and-sandal epic is here. And it is also epic, with a nearly three-hour running time. The film delivers, if unevenly, but when the bow is strung and taut, “The Odyssey” flies with fury and purpose. Even though we know how the millennia-old story ends, there are plenty of surprises and moments of wonder.
The central conflict in “The Odyssey” is not battle. It’s a post-war saga centered on Odysseus’s 20-year trek home after the conclusion of the 10-year Trojan War — you know, the one over Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships. Troy (in modern-day Turkey) was a strategic foothold and a gateway between the Aegean and Black seas — you could think of it as the Strait of Hormuz circa 1200 B.C.
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