Sawt Falasteen - Christopher Nolan returns with "The Odyssey" blockbuster

Over two hours and 52 minutes, the Oscar-winning maker of "Oppenheimer" adapts Homer's epic Greek poem of the same name, recounting the action-packed return of mythical character Odysseus to his island home Ithaca.

It stars Matt Damon in the lead role, alongside a who's who of Hollywood stars, including Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron and Robert Pattinson, who delivers a memorable performance as the villainous Antinous.

At a cost of a reported 250 million dollars, it features the epic battle of Troy as well as encounters with the one-eyed monster Cyclops and sorceress Circe, all shot at various locations around the Mediterranean on the highest-resolution IMAX camera.

"It was a difficult film. It should be difficult: it's the Odyssey, it should be hard, and that's fine," Nolan told a select group of film journalists last week including AFP ahead of the world premiere in Paris.

- Reviews -

Full reviews for the film are currently embargoed ahead of the worldwide release from Wednesday, but early reactions on social media from critics who were invited to private screenings or the premieres have been broadly positive.

Los Angeles Times film editor Joshua Rothkopf called it "a return home to the robustly entertaining action movies that cinema was invented to tell."

IndieWire editor-at-large Anne Thompson predicted that the film would be a strong contender for best picture at the Oscars next year, adding that Matt Damon "could win best actor".

"My high expectations were met," she wrote on social media.

Damon depicts a fragile, confused and ultimately regretful Odysseus returning from his heroics in the victorious siege of Troy.

"He's definitely complicated, and he definitely makes decisions that aren't always the right ones, which makes him very flawed and very human," Damon told AFP at the premiere.

The story, one of the foundational texts of Western literature, is "about homecoming and family and war and death and all of these things that are kind of universal themes in living a life," Damon added.

Nolan sees a parallel between Odysseus and Robert Oppenheimer, one of the leaders of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, who was depicted in his 2023 best picture winner.

"The parallel I found that I thought was interesting was the idea of a person who carries the guilt of shifting the world on its axis ... somebody who has changed the world, and not for the better," Nolan told journalists.

- 'Gaps in the canon' -

Given the complicated plot and the epic scale of the story, previous attempts to tell "The Odyssey" in film are limited.

The 1955 Mario Camerini movie "Ulysses" starring Kirk Douglas attempted to portray the full narrative arc, while the low-profile 2024 "The Return" with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche focused on only the final act once Odysseus lands back in Ithaca.

"As a filmmaker looking for opportunities, you look for gaps in the cinematic canon," Nolan, 55, explained, saying the lack of Odyssey movies presented a "great opportunity."

"They did not have the technology to embrace the fantasy elements that have to be there," he explained.

Nolan made the latest film technology a key part of the production process, shooting the entire film on huge and noisy IMAX cameras that use large-format 70 mm film to offer the highest possible resolution.

"Working with the IMAX cameras for the first time is an experience," Holland, who plays Odysseus' son Telemachus, told Variety. "It is unlike anything I have ever seen before."

H.Darwish--SF-PST