Emily Wilson Slams Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Adaptation

Emily Wilson Tears Into Christopher Nolan’s Adaptation

Emily Wilson, whose 2017 translation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic served as an inspiration to Christopher Nolan during the creation of his cinematic blockbuster, delivered a scathing critique of the film in the London Review of Books. Last fall, the director had quoted Wilson’s opening line — Tell me about a complicated man — when explaining to Empire magazine what drew him to the source material. He praised the character’s cleverness and inventiveness, noting that Odysseus was not just a soldier but a wily strategist.

Wilson admitted she was initially humbled by the filmmaker’s nod, but her tone in the review proved unsparing. But I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script, she wrote, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. A professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania who has also translated Seneca, Euripides, and the Iliad, Wilson likened Nolan’s nearly three-hour epic to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and Game of Thrones, remarking that by the end she almost expected everyone to break into Elvish.

The Odyssey is not boring, thanks to the source material, which is impossible to mess up entirely. It’s a family-friendly audiovisual spectacle, like an elaborate Fourth of July fireworks display — and with about the same level of narrative and emotional depth. Unlike

Character Depictions and Ethical Concerns Raised in Review

Beyond the general narrative tone, Wilson took direct aim at how the film handles its ensemble. She argued that female characters such as Penelope, Calypso, and Athena lost the complex agency they possess in Homer’s poem. Charlize Theron’s Calypso is reduced to an unpaid therapist, Anne Hathaway’s Penelope is given nothing to do except yearn for Matt Damon, and Zendaya’s Athena is cast as a vulnerable war victim rather than a bloodthirsty war goddess.

Wilson also addressed the film’s race-neutral casting, which drew cultural-war headlines when Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o was cast as Helen of Troy. According to the classicist, the casting decisions possessed nothing progressive about it, with non-white actors like Zendaya, Nyong’o, Himesh Patel, Corey Antonio Hawkins, and Travis Scott largely relegated to playing variations of the Black best friend trope to aid the white protagonist.

On the broader theme of war, Wilson wrote that portraying Odysseus as a reluctant warlord makes a mockery of the story’s world. The film asks us both to be horrified at war and to celebrate the action-movie sequences in which the reluctant warrior finally gets his hands on his bow and the blood starts flowing, she noted. As noted by Firstpost, Wilson also flagged the production’s choice to film parts of its shoot in occupied Western Sahara as its most troubling ethical issue due to the ongoing conflict involving the indigenous Sahrawi people.

Box Office Dominance and Record-Breaking Second Weekend

Despite scholarly pushback, Universal’s The Odyssey proved virtually unassailable at the box office. Deadline reported that Sunday went into overdrive for the film, pushing its second frame to $90 million. The sophomore haul ties with Top Gun: Maverick for the 12th spot on the all-time list of best sophomore frames and cements the movie as the second-best second weekend ever for an R-rated feature, trailing only Deadpool & Wolverine at $96.8M.

With a running domestic total of $286.3M, The Odyssey stands as the highest-grossing R-rated movie of the year. Globally, the Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron vehicle hit massive figures after a massive second global frame. Enhanced formats drove significant traffic, with Imax, PLFs, and 70mm screenings accounting for 57% of the second-weekend gross.

Surging Readership for Translation Editions

Even while dismantling the screenplay, Wilson acknowledged that the cultural footprint of Nolan’s blockbuster has delivered tangible benefits to publishing.

Concluding her review, Wilson observed that the blockbuster’s release remains still an event to celebrate for the way it drives audiences back to cinemas and inspires a new generation of readers to engage with classical literature.