The world premiere of Christopher Nolan’s epic, The Odyssey, was held in London on Monday. The cast and the crew descended upon the red carpet, and were also joined by select film critics from the US and theUK. Now the first reactions to the film are out, and they are overwhelmingly positive, hailing it as Nolan’s crowning achievement and calling it a masterpiece filled with some of the ‘best performances’ of the cast’s careers.

The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus.

The Odyssey first reactions

Many of the critics who watched The Odyssey on Monday took to social media to share their reactions to the film later in the day. The immediate consensus is heavy praise for the scale on which Nolan has mounted the epic and the innovativeness with which he has incorporated the supernatural elements and horror from Homer’s original source material.

Steven Weintraub of Collider took to Xand wrote, “Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ is INCREDIBLE. I'm really blown away by this film. Everything from the flawless performances to the way Nolan embraces the supernatural is just perfect.” Perri Nemiroff, a senior film critic and host, added, “THE ODYSSEY is a filmmaking feast. A grand and gripping rendition of Homer’s epic, and one that feels uniquely Christopher Nolan. It’s sincerely hard to imagine any other filmmaker on the planet being able to bring that source material to screen with this much scale, scope and heart.”

Many critics hailed that Nolan managed to not just capture but live up to the epic scale of the source material. Film journalist Rachel Leishman raved, “THE ODYSSEY is as epic as its source material with that level of Christopher Nolan spark that makes it something special. It's a story of love and loss and takes you on quite the journey in only the way Nolan knows how. Breathtaking, bold, and perfection.”

Fandango’s Erik Davis echoed the sentiment and reserved special praise for Robert Pattinson. “The cast is stacked, and somehow everyone still gets a chance to shine. Anne Hathaway is incredible, Matt Damon is excellent, and Tom Holland continues to prove he can do just about anything. But Robert Pattinson absolutely stole the show for me. He's so conniving, manipulative and endlessly entertaining to watch. Pattinson leans all the way into the character's villainy, and it results in one of my favorite performances of his,” he wrote.

The Odyssey releases in theatres worldwide on July 17.

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  Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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