The Odyssey: Hopkins Classic or Summer Blockbuster?

This summer, one highly anticipated movie of the year was released and broke box office records: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

Christopher Nolan released The Odyssey on July 17 of this summer. The movie captured the original epic by Homer, and starred Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus, and Zendaya as Athena. The film depicts Odysseus’s journey back to Ithaca after the Trojan war.

As many members of the Class of 2029 read the epic last school year, rising sophomores noticed similarities and differences from book to movie. Vivian Kelley ‘29 remarked on the “striking similarity” of the scenes relating to Circe to how they were described in the book. Additionally, she added that being able to watch The Odyssey “intensified the action scenes” and the soundtrack enhanced her initial perception of the story. However another current sophomore noticed that in the book, the sirens sang praises to Odysseus, while Nolan’s sirens sang about “all of [Odysseus’s] failed promises.” She also added that the movie “depicted Odysseus as a much kinder and empathetic person” than he is described in the book. On the other hand, Caroline Matkin ‘29 felt that the movie was much “more surface level” than the epic, having studied it last year in English. Harper Behr ‘29 agreed, saying that many scenes in the epic that depicted how Odysseus is “cunning” ended up being cut from the film.

One major change from book to movie is upon Odysseus’s return to Ithaca, he and Penelope return to power; in the movie he leaves the task of ruling Ithaca to Telemachus. Kelley  remarked that “it changed the feeling of the movie in an unnecessary way” as it took away from Odysseus’s homecoming, because “instead of Odysseus being reunited with his family…he departs abruptly and leaves his son again.” Behr added that the ending of the movie made Odysseus “seem like someone who is not meant to stay in one place for long and is always looking for what comes next” even though the epic portrayed him as someone whose main goal was to be back in Ithaca. Matkin claimed that the ending of the movie “showed a little bit more character development” for Odysseus, as it depicts him “trying to do what is ‘right’ for Ithaca even after he has changed so much.” Regarding the film in its entirety, Matkin noticed a lot of Odysseus’s story “was cut” and she believed that “it would have been better to make two separate films” so they “could go more in depth” into the story as a whole. 

The Hopkins student body had mixed opinions pertaining to The Odyssey’s celebrity cast. The Odyssey cast consisted of many of today’s most prominent actors. Kelley “enjoyed” the performance of Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon, but actors like Tom Holland felt like they “were picked based on name recognition” and did not “fit into the acting style necessary for the role.” Conversely, Elizabeth Lang ‘29 commented that “the great acting skills visible in the film added to the overall heaviness” of the movie. Matkin agreed, adding that “there is certainly something to say about an actor already having major-film experience” but “in a movie so big that [it] could have kickstarted a career” it would have been nice to see new faces. Behr thought differently, mentioning that “having well-known actors added to the movie’s success.” She said this because “the actors brought a lot of talent and attention to the film.” The success of the movie was obvious, with it grossing around $1.446 billion as of late August, and currently stands as Christopher Nolan’s highest grossing film and claimed the spot of the highest grossing rated-R film, beating out Deadpool & Wolverine.

This summer, The Odyssey broke records and featured many stars. It similarly changed sophomore’s original views on the epic, with Matkin sharing that the end of the movie showed how “humans are not always perfect.”