Emily Wilson in LRB: ‘Christopher Nolan’s $250 million action movie version of Homer’s ancient Greek poem is an entertaining way to hide from the high temperatures for a few hours.’

And: ‘Nolan’s vision of the world is not quite big enough to include either real gods or real people who might be different from us.’

Also: ‘The language is relentlessly expository, humourless and flat.’

And: ‘Many of the film’s implicit values directly contradict those of Homer’s poem. Deception, warmongering, extramarital sex, cruelty to animals, abusing women and yearning for honour – all perfectly fine in the world of Homer – are, in this version, very bad.’

But: ‘Nolan (…) is doing his best to get the general public reading again, and I am grateful.’

Odysseus was less boring than Oppenheimer.

No gods, no sex, just a long homecoming.

Even a failed film might get people to read.

The end and the means.

(a sf 2197)