After the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a dangerous voyage back to Ithaca, meeting creatures like the Cyclops Polyphemus, Sirens, and Calypso along the way.

Tickets went on sale for The Odyssey, the massive epic retelling based on Homer’s thousands-year-old story, over a year ago. Since then, no other movie has created such a hype storm. Not the last few superhero movies. Not even all the horror movies. Much has been made about the new technology writer-director Christopher Nolan has employed (famously shot on newly-created, special IMAX cameras and utilizing new sound and visual techniques), the cast involved (Damon! Holland! Theron! Hathaway! Zendaya! Pattinson!) and the controversies courted (the casting of Elliot Page, Lupita Nyong’o especially, but also the use of American accents and recent vernacular), it’s almost easy to forget there’s a movie in there somewhere.

And what a movie. This is an old school epic with massive set pieces, bloody battles, following years of a capital-S Saga (kind of the blueprint for it). If you went to high school, you probably know the story which at its core is about man trying to get home after a brutal war won by his cunning. There are vengeful gods, witches, giants, and the elements all trying to prevent this.

This is a big-screen movie if ever there was one and it delivers on that front. The filmmaking is extraordinary. The run time (kissing three hours) isn’t a problem. You kind of need that scale to cover the struggle of decades-long story, but it never feels tedious or padded. There were scenes that could’ve been excised (the cyclops section was a bit long and an expository section with Nyong’o’s second character isn’t needed) but they didn’t detract from the massive interwoven tale.

For acting Matt Damon as the semi-titular Odysseus is best in show for carrying all the interconnecting pieces of the storyline. He has so many good moments, it’s easy to forget it’s been a decade since his last great leading man role (The Martian). Anne Hathaway, John Leguizamo, Elliott Page and Samantha Morton all do great with the moments they’re given. Others are varying degrees of decent (Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron), have too little to do but are fine (Zendaya, Himesh Patel) or are surprisingly only okay (Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal didn’t quite work for me).

It’s certainly worth it to see it on the big screen, but ear plugs may not be a terrible idea.

Jonathan’s grade – A-