2020-2029, Film Review

The Odyssey (2026)

Posted on July 20, 2026September 24, 2026 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

The Odyssey – Film Review

Cast: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Lupita Nyong’o, Samantha Morton, Benny Safdie, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Elliot Page

Director: Christopher Nolan

Synopsis: Following his victory in the Trojan War, the King of Ithaca, Odysseus (Damon), must embark on a gruelling journey to return home…

Review: From his early career beginnings in the late 1990s when he made his debut film, Following on a micro-budget of $6,000, shooting with a cast and crew made up of his friends on weekends, it feels as if Christopher Nolan has been on his own odyssey as a director. A journey in which he has become an absolute titan of the industry and one of the best and most revered filmmakers in the 21st century. A legacy cemented beyond doubt when he conquered the cinematic mountain, winning the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director for his powerful biopic on the life and legacy of the founder of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. A film that very much represented the culmination of his life’s work. Such is the power and prestige Nolan commands, his follow-up could have been just about anything he wanted, and a studio would be only too eager to bankroll it. Any project with his name on it automatically carries intrigue, which would have only heightened when we learnt he would bring his distinctive style to one of the most fundamental texts of Western literature: Homer’s The Odyssey.

As the opening title card reveals, during a ‘time of apparent magic’, King Odysseus of Ithaca has led his army to victory following a gruelling ten-year war against Troy. Desperate to reunite with his wife Penelope (Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Holland), Odysseus and his men set sail for home. However, the voyage proves to be a treacherous one, as they must encounter all sorts of terrifying and mythical monsters and wrathful gods before they can make it back. Meanwhile, with no word on whether her husband is alive or dead, Penelope struggles to hold the kingdom together. Supported only by Telemachus and Odysseus’s loyal swineherd Eumaeus (a truly excellent Leguizamo), she must ward off a growing number of suitors positioning themselves to usurp Odysseus’s throne by forcing Penelope into marriage.

Had cinematic history played out differently, Nolan may well have already taken his swing at bringing to life a swords and sandals epic, as he was attached to direct 2004’s Troy before circumstances changed and it reverted to its original director, Wolfgang Petersen. One can only wonder what Nolan’s interpretation would have looked like, but since the film he went on to direct instead was the first in his trilogy focusing on a certain Caped Crusader, it was a twist of fate that worked out in his favour. Further proof that the film gods work in mysterious ways. His brilliant work on The Dark Knight trilogy meticulously encapsulated the hero’s journey, depicting one man’s transformation from a regular flesh-and-blood human into an all-powerful, incorruptible symbol. The thematic DNA of this compelling character arc comes to the fore in The Odyssey and is anchored by Matt Damon’s powerful arguably career-best performance. Here is a leader who despite his success in the war, is wracked with guilt and post-traumatic stress following the sacking of Troy, guilt which only grows and continues to gnaw away at him throughout their voyage as they battle against all sorts of terrifying threats. The wrath of the Gods is mighty and is felt by each and every man in Odysseus’s army.

While Odysseus battles deities, monsters and everything in between, Penelope faces her own battle to keep Ithaca and its people together while simultaneously rejecting the advances of the suitors who seek to take her husband’s place. Hathaway’s portrayal depicts Penelope as a woman who, despite not having seen him for years, remains steadfast in her conviction that her beloved will ultimately return home. With Odysseus absent, she must warn her son about the threats posed by the suitors, chief among them the deceitful and slimy Antinous, played with almost devilish glee by Robert Pattinson. In a sea of an incredibly talented ensemble cast, every member turns up to deliver their A-game. Despite the absurd, frankly ridiculous backlash from certain quarters over their casting, Zendaya and Lupita Nyong’o both excel in the limited screen time they’re given as the goddess Athena and Helen of Troy/Clytemnestra, respectively. Similarly, having worked with Nolan on Inception, Elliot Page is perhaps the standout of the rest of the cast in a small but absolutely pivotal role as Sinon, a young Greek soldier who, despite being put in a perilous situation, honourably carries out his duty.

As writer/director, Nolan never does things by half measures, for he is a filmmaker whose mantra is either go gargantuan or go home, as evidenced by the fact that throughout his filmography he has pulled off some extraordinary accomplishments across his career. From recreating an atomic bomb explosion to crashing a plane into a building or flipping an 18-wheeler truck, or in the case of this film, building a gigantic wooden horse. Utilising his trademark non-linear narrative, it can feel disorienting at first, particularly if you have not read Homer’s text, and it is hard to keep track of all the key figures, but ultimately proves rewarding for the audience, thanks to Jennifer Lame’s tight editing. Fittingly, translating the source material to the screen and giving them the scope and scale they deserve proved an odyssey unto itself: not only did the film shoot across multiple countries for six months, but it also became the first film shot entirely on IMAX cameras, which allows Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography to dazzle and horrify in equal measure. Furthermore, Nolan’s preference to avoid CGI as much as possible means that all the threats Odysseus and his crew faced, from massive mythical monsters to humongous Laestrygonian soldiers clad in shining metal armour, put the audience right there in the thick of the action, feeling every mythical roar, swing of the sword and the mighty storms that are unleashed upon them.

Across his brilliant career, Nolan has crafted some truly epic pieces of storytelling, from reviving the legend of the Dark Knight to his former glory, a gripping tale of two magicians trying to outdo the other, a gripping tale of the Miracle of Dunkirk told from three unique perspectives and a mind-bending and wholly original piece of science fiction. Now, after he wrote his name into cinematic history, his adaptation of this classic piece of literature and breathing new life into it for a whole new generation is another feather in the bow of his incredible filmography. With another incredible, stripped-back score from Ludwig Göransson, this is cinema at its most visually majestic and deserves the biggest screen possible. The cinematic gods will be very satisfied indeed.

With a committed ensemble cast led by a career-best performance from Matt Damon, Nolan’s adaptation of this foundatinal piece of literature brins Homer’s epic to life in a majestic manner. A perfect companion piece to his Oscar-winning masterpiece.

2020-2029, Film Review, London Film Festival 2022

The Whale (2022)

Posted on February 19, 2023 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

The Whale – Film Review

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Hong Chau, Sadie Sink, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Synopsis: A recluse English professor makes an attempt to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter…

Review: Back in the early 90s and mid-2000s, there was an immensely popular actor who was beloved in Hollywood, particularly with his leading role in The Mummy franchise. He seemed like someone who would go on to enjoy a very prolific career in Hollywood. Unfortunately, a mixture of personal tragedies and a sexual assault accusation levelled against the then President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 2018, led to him reportedly being blacklisted from Hollywood. Now, after many years from the limelight, Brendan Fraser is making his long overdue comeback in the most heartbreaking way possible.

Charlie (Fraser) is an English professor who, due to a deeply personal tragedy, has allowed himself to be stricken and overwhelmed by the grief which has driven the rest of his family away. Consequently, to help him cope with the emotional torment of his situation, he has eaten to such an extent he has since become obese. He holds his classes online, with his camera off to avoid being seen by his students, which enables him to remain in his flat all the time hidden away from the rest of the world. He recognises in his condition, he may not have much time left in his life and so when his estranged daughter Ellie (Sink) shows up unexpectedly one day, he makes an attempt to reestablish a relationship with her.

Based on the play of the same name by Samuel D. Hunter, there’s always a risk when a film is set in one singular location, it will find itself unable to escape the limitations of being confined to the same four walls and hold the audience’s attention. However, when you have actors putting in phenomenal performances, especially Fraser, the film can escape that confinement. Fraser’s performance is so powerful, with every word of dialogue, you can feel the raw pain and torment within him and how guilty he feels for driving his family away. Actors being buried under piles of make-up and or prosthetics can sometimes become a distraction where this becomes the singular focus and the performance is forgotten about, but this is emphatically not the case here. The process of grieving when we’ve lost someone we love affects everyone in different ways, but for Charlie, it has left such a devasting impact on him to the point where he has accepted his fate.

While Charlie is resigned to the inevitable, there are individuals in his life who do their utmost to convince him that life is worth living. The most prominent is Liz (Chau) who assists Charlie as a nurse with his medical needs and also serves as his main source of company. While she pleads, in vain, with Charlie to seek medical treatment, she remains unwavering in her commitment to care for Charlie despite her pleas falling on deaf ears. There is Charlie’s estranged daughter Ellie, who turns up on Charlie’s door out of the blue after a long time because she wants her father’s help with her studies. It is an extremely difficult role to pull off as she understandably harbours a lot of bitterness and resentment towards her father for the significant period he was absent from her life, but Sink rises to the challenge in magnificent style.

The decision to have the entire film in a 4:3 ratio is an inspired creative choice on the part of Aronofsky. as it encapsulates both Charlie’s confinement to the four walls of his flat and his refusal to venture outside of those walls. Characters in previous Aronofsky films have often found themselves either at their moment of triumph or in some cases at their utmost lowest ebb. Given the circumstances of its main character, The Whale is definitely the latter, but through the bleakness of which Charlie finds himself, come plenty of moments of touching humanity and emotional gravity. It will be a minor miracle if you’re not at least holding back the tears by the time the credits begin to roll.

A simplistic, scaled-back story of redemption told with compassion, elevated with an extremely powerful lead performance at its core. Welcome back Brendan Fraser, we have missed you.

2020-2029, Film Review, London Film Festival 2022

She Said (2022)

Posted on October 15, 2022September 10, 2023 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**© Universal, Annapurna Pictures and Plan B**

She Said – Film Review

Cast: Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Patricia Clarkson, Jennifer Ehle, Angela Yeoh, Samantha Morton, Andre Braugher, Ashley Judd

Director: Maria Schrader

Synopsis: Telling the true story of the two reporters from The New York Times whose reporting uncovered the truth behind the sexual assault allegations that sparked a worldwide movement…

Review: 5th October 2017, a date that will go down as the day that not just the film industry, but the world changed forever. It is the date when the shocking truth behind the repeated abuse and sexual misconduct committed by numerous powerful men, most notably Harvey Weinstein, against countless women came to light in an exposé published by The New York Times. A story that sparked a global movement of women to come forward to report their own allegations against numerous high-powered individuals who used their positions of power to sexually assault women in multiple industries. However, what is not nearly as well known is the tireless and vital work done by the heroic journalists whose courageous and resolute reporting helped to spark the Me Too and Time’s Up campaigns, and ignite a much-needed conversation about sexual harassment and treatment of women the world over.

The film opens in 2016, with investigative reporters Jodi Kantor (Kazan) and Megan Twohey (Mulligan) reporting on the 2016 US Presidential election, the sexual assault allegations made against the then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and later when similar accusations against prominent Fox News TV host Bill O’Reilly came to light. Flash forward several months, and the two of them are assigned to investigate allegations of appalling misconduct perpetuated by Weinstein against several women that worked for one of his studios. The two soon uncover a shocking system that protects high-profile individuals committing these horrific abuses by bullying the women into silence, either through cash settlements or non-disclosure agreements and any attempts to publicise the story are derailed by Weinstein and his lawyers. Consequently, Kantor and Twohey become even more determined to speak to victims and attempt to persuade them to go on the record to tell their story to bring down someone whose rampant abusive behaviour had been left unchecked for decades.

Given that the rise of the Me Too and the Time’s Up Movements represent very recent history, it was of critical importance for the film to approach this story and subject matter with the utmost respect. It would have been so easy for the film to devolve into a puff piece where the reporters pat themselves on the back for a report that brought to an end the system abuse by a man who was regarded as one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood, but Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s screenplay (based on the book: She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Kantor and Twohey) is having none of it. In a similar manner to the Oscar-winning Spotlight, the film expertly walks the line between demonstrating the pain-staking work that went into the investigation, and the effect that such work has on the personal lives of these journalists, whilst paying tribute to these courageous victims who came forward to speak out and help bring down someone who wrought so much devastation on the lives of countless women.

Kazan and Mulligan are both exceptional as the journalists at the centre of this investigation. As their investigation progresses and they uncover more and more evidence through speaking to these witnesses, the emotional weight of the horror that these people experienced, begins to take a hefty toll, especially when it comes to their personal lives. However, they remain undeterred, because they know the importance of the work that they are carrying out and amid the threat hanging over them that Weinstein might bury the story before they have a chance to publish. The supporting performances of everyone most notably Samantha Morton, Angela Yeoh, Jennifer Ehle, and Ashley Judd, the latter of whom plays herself, help ground the film in reality and provide a significant amount of emotional heft as they recount the horrific nature of their experiences.

Nicholas Britell’s stripped-back score captures the gravity of the situation and when necessary shifts gear to the urgency of the reporters attempting to get their story into the public domain. The work of the Me Too campaign is an ongoing struggle, and much more work will need to be done. However, the brilliant work of Maria Schrader and her predominantly female crew represents another timely reminder of the importance of investigative journalism, and the hugely essential stories it can bring to a global audience, stories that may well have never seen the light of day had certain people got their way. But it is much more than that, it is also the essential fact that when it comes to telling these stories, it is imperative that the voices of women come to the fore when telling these stories. It is a testament to those who would not let themselves be intimidated, and who raised their voices when it mattered the most.