I’m Trevor with the Sasquatch Movie Minute with a look at THE ODYSSEY, directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Matt Damon. After the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew must sail home, facing many dangers along the way.

5 out of 5

A stunning achievement, the embodiment of the word ‘epic’, yet somehow able to be heartbreakingly intimate as well. Continuing Nolan’s obsession with time, the story is told in memory, flashback, and visual repetition, almost more of an astounding thematic tapestry than a traditional screenplay. It felt so modern and I loved the beautiful ethical consequences that land at that ending. Of male hubris; that one man alone can break the world. The script takes the most pop-culture recognizable moment from the Odyssey and makes it a stunning keystone in the moral accounting of civilization. I do have nits; many of the scenes at home are badly overwritten, but the whole totality of this project, the pure blazing filmmaking gusto on display, burn those small doubts away.

Best Scene. The monster encounters were all unique and terrifying and different. The witch sequence went hard! Or the realistic depiction of the Trojan Horse was horrifying. But I would have to go with the ending in Ithaca. All the moments of recognition and relief felt so earned. A short bit with a dog broke me.

Best Performance. Also hard to choose, Anne Hathaway is a blazing beast here, and Himesh Patel is lovely as a depiction of what happens to the normal men outside of the Gods’ gaze. But this doesn’t work without Matt Damon. He is honorable and lost; desperately trying to be good when he so often chooses badly. His scene and aftermath on a ship’s mast is devastating.

I had big expectations with this film. They were met. An astonishingly beautiful, surprisingly contemporary movie.