Christopher Nolan directs Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland in this blockbuster adaptation of Homer’s epic Greek adventure.

Run away! RUN AWAY! A staggering, monumental achievement with sequences and visuals that pull your soul out of your body. Not perfect but definitive. Nolan’s true talent is breaking a complex set piece down to its basic parts, presenting the construction of it with the clarity of a line drawn Ikea manual, then assembling it before your eyes with a pace and involvement that dazzles. Artful world building that values simplicity and boldness to agitate the emotions. A murderer’s row of screen acting talent. Pattinson and Leguizamo have juice running down their chin they eat so well. Samantha Morton’s Circe pretty much resets the movie entire. She’s that powerful. Also hers is one of three moments where Nolan leans into unabashed terror. Let’s have his vision of the horror movie next please. This is a 2026 take on The Odyssey used as a vehicle for some very prescient themes. Ones that Nolan has been exploring since the very start of his unparalleled career. If you break the rules of civilisation can you ever go home again? Should you? Should it be easy? The vigilantes of Memento and the Batman trilogy. The warmongers of Dunkirk and Tenet. The technology pioneers of The Prestige and Interstellar. Should the journey back to family and community be a cake walk if you have removed yourself from it for abusive, violent, reality altering ends? Also my own little side theory is this all take’s place in an Inception subconscious Limbo… Hear me out. The totems which are handed back and forth (rings, bows, pins); the unconstructed landscapes with small labyrinths ruined around them; the repeated hordes that descend on any interloper once they make themselves known. Just saying… Nolan knows what he is flirting with, he knows how obsessive his fanbase is. These recurring images from his arthouse blockbuster past are at the very least winks to fuel a thousand hot take TikTok posts. Whose dream is it though? Mine! Mythic, already seen it twice.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Stop eating those Lotus petals, you fiends.

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin