In the newest trailer for The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan shows why he is one of the greatest living directors. In his recent interview with Stephen Colbert, he released the 2:32 trailer for his summer blockbuster. This movie is most likely his most hyped up movie yet, coming off the Best Picture winner from Oppenheimer in 2024. Nolan has always wanted to do an ancient war-esque film and he was actually supposed to direct the movie Troy in 2004 before Wolfgang Peterson took over on the project. Nevertheless, his time has finally come to release it, and the new trailer has wowed every single person that has seen it. You can watch the official trailer right here.
This trailer gives us the first real look at the famous story put onto the big screen. Before, all we had was leaked pictures and perhaps some clips that were passed onto the public. What we do know is that the entire movie is being filmed with IMAX cameras, which is the first of its kind to do so. Nolan released tickets to the IMAX screening of this a year in advance, and still it sold out in just seconds.
What Nolan is doing with his films is transforming them into almost concerts or sporting events, and getting the audience excited for the movies to finally air. With all the hype around this movie, it’s safe to say that if isn’t immediately one of the all time greats, then it will be seen as a failure in most people’s eyes, which is just crazy in itself.
Of course, everyone has heard the story of The Odyssey. If not, here is a very brief rundown. It is the story of Odysseus–the king of Ithaca– who tries to find his way home for ten years after the Trojan War. In his descent home, he features in many more battles, including fights with Cyclopes, The Sirens, Circe, and many more formidable beings that try and kill the great hero before he can return home.
While he is trying to return home, his wife Penelope, and his son, Telemachus, are waiting for him to come back after leaving for the war over 20 years ago. While they wait, thousands of men have traveled to Odysseus’s home to try and become a new suitor for Penelope. They both sit there powerless as Telemachus searches for his father in his own way.
This trailer, as mentioned previously, is simply astounding. Matt Damon is the star is his biggest movie in around 20 years, since Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. One could argue that this is his biggest role of the century so far, with its only competition being The Departed or The Martian. I would say that neither of those movies–or even any of the films in Damon’s catalogue– have the hype around it like this one has.
We are introduced to perhaps the most interesting character in the trailer–Antinous, played by Robert Pattinson. In the story of The Odyssey, Antinous is Penelope’s most arrogant suitor and we see that greatly throughout the trailer. He is leading the riots in Odysseus’s home and constantly taunting Telemachus in the sliver we see of the movie so far. Pattison definitely has a good shot at winning Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards next year for this role, which would be his first win or even nomination at the Oscars despite a handful of worthy performances throughout the years.
The Tom Holland character will definitely be interesting to see when this movie comes out in nearly two months. Holland, one of the biggest stars in the world, has really yet to show that he can put on a really good performance of a character in a non-Marvel movie. Christopher Nolan believes in him though, which is certainly big enough for me.
With the new rules from the Academy Awards that states that an actor/actress can now be nominated twice in the same year for different movies for Best Actor/Actress/Supporting Actor/Actress, Anne Hathaway can make history as the first actress to be nominated twice in the same year. Although it is unlikely that she will get the nomination for both, it is still on the table. She has not been nominated for an Academy Award since her win in 2012 for Best Supporting Actress in Les Miserables, which is surprising for someone with her talent.
This is Nolan’s highest costing movie of all time, with the budget reportedly costing more than $250 million, which would surpass The Dark Knight Rises for his highest costing movie. It shows in this trailer though, with the shots of Odysseus at sea, in which they actually spent around 90 days at sea. It also cost more than a pittance to pay for this loaded cast.
This cast has as previously mentioned: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and Robert Pattinson. But, it also has Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Benny Safdie, Jon Bernthal, and Charlize Theron. All of these actors are taking a lesser role than what they usually would take, which shows how good of a director that Christopher Nolan is, and how well liked and respected he is by his peers.
There is finally less than three months from the release of this movie, one that I cannot wait for. My early Oscars prediction involves this movie winning Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Director. I know that this seems like a flaming hot take, and it is more on the hotter side, but all of these things could happen. Alas, I do not think that Matt Damon will win Best Actor just because of the competition.
In 2026 there is loaded competition for every single category, which is why this film could only win one Oscar. There is Dune: Part 3 coming out later this year, some new Avengers movies, Digger, The Social Reckoning, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, Werewolf, and obviously Project Hail Mary which already released and was great. I am just as excited as you guys are to see this movie release and I will give more thoughts when something breaks.
