Running for two hours and 52 minutes, the film follows the legendary journey of Odysseus as he battles his way home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
Matt Damon leads the cast as Odysseus, joined by an ensemble that includes Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron and Robert Pattinson, who portrays the antagonist Antinous.
Produced with a reported budget of $250 million, the film recreates the siege of Troy and mythical encounters with the Cyclops and the sorceress Circe. It was filmed across locations in the Mediterranean using the latest high-resolution IMAX cameras.
Speaking ahead of the film s world premiere in Paris, Nolan acknowledged the scale of the production.
"It was a difficult film. It should be difficult: it s The Odyssey, it should be hard, and that s fine," he told a group of journalists.
Although full reviews remain under embargo before the global release on Wednesday, early reactions from critics attending advance screenings have been overwhelmingly positive.
Los Angeles Times film editor Joshua Rothkopf described it as "a return home to the robustly entertaining action movies that cinema was invented to tell."
IndieWire editor-at-large Anne Thompson predicted the film would be a major contender at next year s Academy Awards, suggesting it could compete for Best Picture while Matt Damon may earn a Best Actor nomination.
"My high expectations were met," she wrote on social media.
Damon said his portrayal presents Odysseus as a deeply flawed and human character.
"He s definitely complicated, and he definitely makes decisions that aren t always the right ones, which makes him very flawed and very human," Damon said at the Paris premiere.
He added that the ancient story continues to resonate because of its timeless themes.
"It s about homecoming and family and war and death and all of these things that are kind of universal themes in living a life," he said.
Nolan also drew comparisons between Odysseus and J. Robert Oppenheimer, the central figure in his Oscar-winning 2023 film Oppenheimer.
"The parallel I found that I thought was interesting was the idea of a person who carries the guilt of shifting the world on its axis... somebody who has changed the world, and not for the better," Nolan said.
Despite being one of the most influential works in Western literature, The Odyssey has rarely been adapted as a major feature film.
The 1955 film Ulysses, starring Kirk Douglas, attempted to tell the complete story, while 2024 s The Return, featuring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, focused only on Odysseus return to Ithaca.
Nolan said the limited number of cinematic adaptations presented an opportunity.
"As a filmmaker looking for opportunities, you look for gaps in the cinematic canon," he said.
"They did not have the technology to embrace the fantasy elements that have to be there."
The director shot the entire film using large-format 70mm IMAX cameras, a technology designed to deliver the highest possible image quality.
Tom Holland, who plays Odysseus son Telemachus, described working with the cameras as a unique experience.
"Working with the IMAX cameras for the first time is an experience. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before," he told Variety.
