Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has received rave reviews from critics and for a multitude of reasons. Pundits and general audiences alike have lauded the film’s direction, screenplay, performances, score and more. The British filmmaker pulled from Homer’s original epic poem when crafting the film, though he also looked to others, including Emily Wilson, who translated the story in 2017. While Nolan named Wilson as an inspiration for his approach, the author has some brutally honest thoughts about the book-to-screen adaptation.
To put it simply, Nolan’s 2026 movie schedule entry has stirred up a lot of conversations amongst those familiar with the story. There’s been backlash leveled at Nolan for his casting choices and use of modern language. Well, Wilson has entered the chat, and she lambasts the blockbuster in an essay written for the London Review of Books. While Wilson noted that her teenage kids “had a good time,” she laid out why she was unimpressed:
I had hoped that Nolan’s affinity with these Homeric themes might push him to new creative heights, and enable him to conjure more believable characters. But The Odyssey features his usual combination of grandiosity and superficiality. Without a tub of wax for my ears – which Himesh Patel’s ever anxious Eurylochus, Odysseus’s doomed right-hand man, uses to sail safely past the Sirens – I was exposed to the full din of thumping sticks, staffs, swords and clashing armour, thunderbolts, crashing waves, grunts, screams, toppling palaces and burning temples.
Wilson also goes on to say “the film’s vision is too confused, its characters too underdeveloped, to deliver what it half-promises in terms of big ideas – although it is very good at conveying big bangs and big giants.” The writer is also of the belief that the Dark Knight helmer’s “spectacle threatens to drown out his story”. While Wilson acknowledges that film adaptations don’t need to follow the source to the letter, she’s still of the thinking that Nolan misses the mark here in several respects. She also adds this:
Nolan’s Odyssey lacks many of the elements that make the poem great. It has nothing convincing to say about time, memory, history, war, or about the relationship between one warrior’s glorious return and the lives of his family, adversaries, comrades, friends and neighbours. It lacks psychological, emotional, political and ethical depth. Its narrative structure is gimmicky. The writing is abysmal. None of the characters has convincing motivation for their actions or words. There are no sex scenes, and all the food looks horrible.
Wilson’s translation of the story has been celebrated over the years, with fans even shouting it out when they saw one of the movie’s cast members, Zendaya, holding a copy of it. The actress’ character, Athena, is also referenced in Wilson’s review, as the classicist also claimed the movie’s female characters were mostly underwritten as well as the characters of color. Wilson did admit to being “humbled” that Nolan used the first line of her translation – “Tell me about a complicated man” – but added another biting thought:
As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Nolan has read at least the first line of my translation of The Odyssey into iambic pentameter. In at least one interview, he cited my version of the first line of the poem: ‘Tell me about a complicated man.’ But I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.
It’s quite clear that Wilson has some very strong views on Nolan’s film and, like anyone, she is indeed entitled to her opinions. Plenty of comments made the rounds on the internet long before the movie even hit theaters. Much of that involved users nitpicking the film over historical inaccuracies, much to the annoyance of the movie’s early defenders. Yet I wouldn’t group Wilson in with that discourse, as she even still calls the film’s release “still an event to celebrate” and notes that translations of the book (including her own) are seeing big sales.
Any sentiments shared by detractors don’t seem to be hurting The Odyssey’s box office performance. The film is soaring and, amid Toy Story 5’s billion-dollar achievement, the historical epic saw only a 27% drop from its first-to-second weekend hauls. Like so many others, I really enjoyed the film as well, and I’m surprised by Emily Wilson’s sentiments. Be that as it may, viewers can form their own opinions on the Christopher Nolan film by seeing it in theaters now.
