'The Odyssey' review: A bigger, grander thematic successor of Christopher Nolan's 'Memento' and Batman trilogy

The beauty of cinema is that it can condense events spanning hours, days, months, years, and decades without us being aware of the passage of time. Many films have done this. Some films make you sit down and fully process when and where something happened. Christopher Nolan is a filmmaker who has done this time and time again. No filmmaker has been able to make us conscious of the passage of time the way he does.

His latest film, "The Odyssey", is yet another marvellous demonstration of his experiments with time. Past, present, and future sometimes play out simultaneously in this film. And Nolan's strongest quality as a storyteller — his ability to make us exercise our brains, and giving us enough time to put two and two together before telling us if our guesses are correct or not — is once again strongly apparent here. But it's not just time, but almost all of Nolan's major pet themes are once again explored in a much bigger, grander fashion in "The Odyssey". Hardcore Nolan fans should be delighted to find all his usual screenplay trademarks here, without seeming repetitive. Visually and sonically, "The Odyssey" sees Nolan going boldly where no filmmaker has gone before.

"It's a time of apparent magic...," says the opening line displayed on the screen. Immediately, my mind rushed to that one night in my early 20s when I discovered Nolan's "The Prestige" for the first time with a friend, and how, after the film ended, we both looked at each other with our jaws on the floor. But that film wasn't about magic; it was about science fiction. It was about men employing the tools of science to conjure magic. "The Odyssey" finds Nolan doing the same thing. He conjures up more "magic" with the advanced tools at his disposal — most notably, IMAX technology with which he shot the entire film. Naysayers have often accused the filmmaker of being "lazy" when it comes to spectacle — that he isn't as ambitious or bold when compared to the likes of James Cameron and Michael Bay. "The Odyssey" is a loud slap on their faces.

Populated by visible demons (in human and other forms) more than invisible Gods, "The Odyssey" is basically Nolan saying, "Hold my beer," and taking us on a nightmarish rollercoaster ride that, if you really think about it, is not much different from what he pulled off in "Inception". There are at least four massive setpieces in the film where Nolan channels his inner Ridley Scott (of "Gladiator" and "Kingdom of Heaven") but in a way that's grounded — where immaculately designed light, sound, and production design enhance these moments of peril which bring out, for the first time, the horror filmmaker inside him that has been awaiting the right opportunity to show off.

And boy does he show off! Here, too, I've to bring up Ridley Scott, since his 1979 film "Alien" — one of the greatest horror films of all time — is evoked in one of the film's scariest sequences. In another place, he introduces another terrifying character who can do more damage to someone's face than Heath Ledger's Joker in "The Dark Knight".

Speaking of, "The Odyssey" is, in many ways, a relative of Nolan's Batman trilogy, but from a different era. You'll find thematic similarities between crucial moments in "The Odyssey" and some of the best, most emotionally stirring moments from "The Dark Knight Rises". Interestingly, Matt Damon's Odysseus not only shares some common qualities with the Caped Crusader — in terms of character and the arc of his journey — but also Nolan's "Memento". I can't begin to tell you how much of that film "The Odyssey" reminds one of. Without giving anything away, there is one specific instance, involving Matt Damon and Charlize Theron, that recalls a certain moment in "Memento" involving Guy Pearce and Carrie-Anne Moss. In short, the nature of memory and the games it plays on us.

Memory is, in fact, one of the dominant themes of "The Odyssey". The heavy burden of memories. The way they shape our personality and our future. And Nolan has always been a master at the subliminal. The mind has always been his playground, even with the most straightforward stories that, for him, present plenty of opportunities to bend time and generate non-linear stories. And it's never done as a gimmick. It's always for serving the story, even when it may not always make sense (as in the case of "Tenet").

Nolan once mentioned that he is a big fan of British filmmaker Nicholas Roeg, who was not a maker of blockbusters but toyed with screenplay structure in such a way that, if it were a horror film like "Don't Look Now", you are haunted more by the implications of a certain image than the mysterious figure that has been wreaking havoc all along. Nolan does the same thing but on a much bigger canvas. Nowhere is the Roeg influence stronger than in "The Odyssey". He shows you events that haven't happened yet, running concurrently with the past and present. And then he throws in numerous challenging circumstances along the way to play with not just the protagonist's mind but also ours. It helps that Nolan has a stellar ensemble, who bring to the table just the right measure of emotions, big or small, to play along with the illusion.

Oh, and all that hullabaloo about the film's casting choices and the use of "modern" language... Engaging with that is a waste of time. After all, this is a mythological story, and a filmmaker is free to interpret the material whichever way he sees fit or cast whoever he wants. Nolan is often criticised for the lack of a strong female character in his films. If you found any of his earlier female characters lacking, "The Odyssey" should have one in the form of Anne Hathaway's Penelope, whose presence is a key factor during that rousing climax where Nolan's biggest strengths as a mass-appeal filmmaker come to the fore. It's also where Indian audiences will draw parallels to some of their most popular mythological stories.

Nolan once came close to directing the other Greek epic-based blockbuster "Troy" in 2004. Perhaps he would've been capable back then even though he had only done, until that point, those talking heads suspense thrillers like "Following", "Memento" and "Insomnia" — a filmmaker doesn't necessarily have to make a big-scale film first to prove his talents in that area — but I'm glad it took a little over two decades, because it's more fun to see "The Odyssey" as a culmination and zenith of his powers after having known his journey so far. In many ways, this success feels much like the glorious homecoming of Odysseus.

Film: The Odyssey
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Himesh Patel, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron
Rating: 5/5