Tom Holland’s The Odyssey turn is way better than anyone expected
With first reactions to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey landing, Tom Holland is getting stick — but once you factor in the role’s intended register, the pile-on looks off.
Right, Christopher Nolan goes epic again with The Odyssey, and the A-list casting alone is enough to keep film Twitter’s hot takes coming for the rest of the decade. Sticking everyone from Anne Hathaway to Matt Damon into one sandblasted, sword-swinging, literal-ancient-Greece-scale production, you’d expect the lead performances to get all the love—and they do, for the most part. But tucked in the middle of all that starlight is Tom Holland, turning what many have wrongly dismissed as a 'quiet' role into one of the film’s best turns. Let’s be honest, this is the bit where a lot of people will try to rank the performances, but that’s missing the point (and a bit unhinged given the wild difference in screen time and dialogue between, say, Damon and Samantha Morton, never mind Holland). Here’s what actually makes his take on Telemachus not just underrated but pretty much essential to why this film works.
The Odyssey boasts one of the most stacked casts in recent memory — with Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, Tom Holland, John Leguizamo, Robert Pattinson, and Samantha Morton all in the mix.
Not Just There to Make Up the Numbers
Holland’s Telemachus is basically the hinge on which the whole family melodrama pivots. He’s not the headline-maker in any of the trailers, but he’s front and centre when it’s time for the actual emotional core of the story—watching his father (well, the great Odysseus, if you’ve zoned out at this point) finally try to come home. We meet him as the put-upon son, roundly ignored by everyone at home and mercilessly bullied by his mother’s suitors. He actually spends a good chunk of his screentime being belittled or walked over, which is pretty much the job description for Telemachus until Odysseus finally turns up to batter everyone and restore order.
The internet’s been suspiciously keen to pounce on Holland for being 'too passive' in this film, especially when compared to Anne Hathaway’s Penelope, whose grief and rage punch through the screen. That scene in particular—where Hathaway lights into him—is the one on every Reddit thread, with complaints that Holland just sits there and gets out-acted. But the thing is, that’s entirely the point. Telemachus is supposed to be outclassed (and outshouted) at this stage. Those who see 'passive' here as a problem are missing the script’s design: Holland’s stone-faced silence isn’t a misfire, it’s exactly what Nolan and the writers are asking for. It’s about the character getting battered by the years, not delivering Oscar-bait backtalk.
Turns Out Subtlety Wins in the Long Run
There are, actually, some lovely moments where Holland gets to do something other than soak up stress or get dunked on by his ancient Greek elders. It’s mostly in the quiet, 'blink and you’ll miss it' scenes where he shines. The dog-recognition bit (if you know the story, you know), for instance: Telemachus’s look of dawning realisation and half-fighting not to completely break down hits so much harder because he’s spent the rest of the film bottling it all up. Suddenly, the nervous kid is momentarily replaced by someone who recognises his own father, and you get the tiniest flicker of actual joy—and then, it’s straight back to business as usual, except now with that little spark. It’s brilliant, even if people are too busy counting lines to give it credit.
If you need big, heavy-handed movie emotion, just wait for Damon to tackle the Sirens scene, or Morton’s delightfully bonkers spell-casting. Holland’s impact is deliberately dialled down in comparison. It's not a bug, it’s a feature.
The Growth is the Point
The cleverest part of what Holland is doing here is that Telemachus actually grows up properly across the film, and not in the exaggerated, 'now he wears a beard' Hollywood way. He starts as a bumbling target, emotionally and sometimes physically in over his head, occasionally following Penelope around like a shadow. The change only becomes obvious looking back: he grows bolder, actually makes decisions, seeks out news of his father off his own back, and by the reunion he’s stepped up completely. It’s a visible arc from puppy to, if not full lion, at least pretty determined wolf.
No, it probably won’t be the performance that wins the biggest statues by itself, but it’s exactly what’s needed to anchor a story like this. And, crucially, it means he’s absolutely not 'out of place' among this cast. He holds his own with all these scene-stealers, and the film’s far better for it. History (and the inevitable thinkpieces on its anniversary) will probably be much kinder to Holland’s performance than the online pile-ons of 2024.