It looks like Christopher Nolan may have hit a Homer-run with the “The Odyssey.” The 172-minute blockbuster, written and directed by the “Oppenheimer” Academy Award winner, is poised to be one of the films of the summer, and the reviews may back up all the hype. The long-awaited movie , starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Samantha Morton, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Elliot Page and Jon Bernthal hits theaters July 17. “The Odyssey” is an adaptation of Homer’s classic poem, revolving around the Greek king Odysseus (played by Damon), who endures a long and daunting journey home after the Trojan War. The early reaction to the film was favorable, but now the reviews are in, and it looks like the film may very well live up to the hoopla, earning a decadent 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s a look at what the critics are saying about “The Odyssey.” Variety Guy Lodge lauded the scope and ambition of the movie. “A genuinely grand, gutsy vision, “The Odyssey” thrills generously for the bulk of its near three-hour running time: Every few minutes, it seems, it throws at its audience another mighty set piece that, in almost any other summer studio spectacle, would be a climactic standout,” he wrote in his review for Variety. Lodge liked the “inspired casting of Matt Damon” and the other casting decisions. “The Odyssey” is a veritable banquet, then, of such loud, grandiose, movie-movie pleasures, so brashly, confidently lavish that it can afford to throw away a significant portion of its all-star cast on lily-gilding cameos,” he wrote. “There’s so much to feel here at a sensory level that the film gets away with its slightly aloof, soul-skirting chill; we leave it feeling that we’ve been to hell and back, and exhilaratingly so,” he added. 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Here's how scary it is and why it's rated R Movies Jul 13 Robert Pattinson reveals why he hesitated when asked to join ‘The Odyssey' Movies Jul 9 Behind Christopher Nolan's epic journey to make ‘The Odyssey' Rolling Stone “Nolan and his behind-the-camera collaborators want to wow you,” wrote David Fear, who ultimately concludes that’s exactly what he does. “What you tend to walk away with after bearing witness to ‘The Odyssey,’ arguably Christopher Nolan’s best work after 2017’s ‘Dunkirk,’ is an overall sensation of awe,” he wrote in wrapping up his review. “It is one of the most dynamic movies in recent memory, simply in the way it attempts to — and largely succeeds — balance such incredible highs and delicate lows, deafening bursts of divine wrath with quiet pauses of contemplation, episodic moments of old-school Saturday-matinee fantasy with the sort of grounded interactions associated with smaller projects. “A cynical wiseass might, sight unseen, crack that it took one of the greatest epic tales ever told to finally find material that matched Nolan’s ambitions. Once you’ve stepped into this film and let it sweep you up, however, it’s hard to deny the accomplishment that he’s brought to the screen. You may have no idea how long you’ve been gone after you’ve seen it. You just know that you want to go back again.” The Hollywood Reporter For The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney did call the movie “uneven,” but singled out many of the film’s performances. “Damon is superb, going to dark places seldom if ever explored in his previous roles; Hathaway is a model of steely self-possession masking vulnerability; Pattinson bites into his character’s villainy with gusto, showing Antinous to be a cowardly conspirator, loyal only to himself,” he wrote. He also lauded the action sequences. “The push for in-camera spectacle over digital fakery wherever possible pays off in terms of dropping the audience right into the middle of the action,” he wrote. Associated Press Jake Coyle wrote for the Associated Press that Damon took on “the role of his life” in this “richly textured film.” “While ‘The Odyssey,’ Nolan’s first film shot entirely with IMAX cameras, doesn’t skimp on grandiosity, it works surprisingly well as a simpler, human-sized tale,” he wrote. Coyle also said the movie will take its place in the Nolan canon. “But ‘The Odyssey’ is rarely not transfixing, and it’s a ripping adventure story, besides. At the least, it’s the definitive big-screen adaptation of one of literature’s oldest tales — a not-too-shabby accomplishment for a filmmaker of restless ambition,” he wrote. Forbes “‘The Odyssey’ is a visual masterpiece filled with grand production and set designs, detailed costumes, and the most unsettling action sequences,” Laura Sirikul wrote. “The war and fight sequences, particularly in the final act, are a masterclass in storytelling, direction, sound, music, set design and action. All of which feels grand in scale and heart-pounding, as if we were there,” she continued. She wrapped up her take on the film by praising it as a classic. “It’s a tale that only Nolan could have really told with this massive Hollywood production — and he did it epically,” she wrote. The New York Times Manohla Dargis was in awe of Nolan’s work, pointing out how it effortlessly slides into his catalog of pictures. “Nolan’s love of movies and commitment to them — to what they can do, what they can be, what they should be — runs like an electric current through his filmography, lighting it, and oftentimes you, up,” she wrote. “That passion is in every frame of his monumental adaptation of ‘The Odyssey,’ one of the most Nolan of Nolan spectacles in its thematic concerns, formal playfulness, kinetic thrills and unabashed showmanship.” “Nolan’s gifts are excessively obvious, and even when his characters don’t stir you, his filmmaking does,” she continued. “Among other qualities, he doesn’t know how to make an ugly image and this one is filled with rapturous beauty. Nolan employs beauty strategically, using it to seduce viewers into stories that can seem needlessly byzantine to some — especially by impoverished mainstream industry standards — more the provenance of the art house than the multiplex. Nolan asks us to dream bigger. His ‘Odyssey’ is a classic in every sense, a transporting affirmation of the art and a work of pure cinema.” Mashable Belen Edwards bowed down at the foot of Nolan’s work, citing his efforts into a new genre. “So, how does Nolan approach his first foray into epic fantasy? How does he fare when turning his lens to antiquity and one of its foundational myths?” Edwards wrote. “The answer, in a word, is spectacularly. Nolan eschews the sleek modernity that’s come to define his filmography. Instead, he gives himself up to a grimy, haunting take on ‘The Odyssey’ that weaves myth and history into a devastating, unforgettable reckoning for Odysseus himself.” Edwards also saluted Nolan’s ability to work on a grand scale, while also maintaining a personal touch. “‘The Odyssey’s’ magnificent conclusion would not work if Nolan didn’t hold audiences close to the action every step of the way. Yes, the film is a glorious spectacle, boasting vast ocean vistas, armies of giants, and even the occasional sea monster. But Nolan doesn’t just want ‘The Odyssey’ to be epic. He wants it to be human, too.” NME “The word ‘epic’ has been tossed around a lot over the last 3,000 years… Leave it to Christopher Nolan, then, to remind us what a proper epic looks, sounds and feels like,” Paul Bradshaw began his five-star review. If ‘Oppenheimer’ was a small story made big, ‘The Odyssey’ is a big story made impossibly huge: delivering yet another landmark summer cinema event that might just be the director’s most accomplished film to date.” Bradshaw also marveled at Nolan’s ability to make sense of a complex story. “Always a master of structure, Nolan’s real coup here is cutting the poem up into bits and piecing it all back together again,” he wrote. “Less a case of them not making ‘em like they used to, watching the film leaves you with a sense that this sort of thing probably won’t be made at all for too much longer — the sheer scale, ambition and weight of it seeming to belong to a different world already,” he added. “It’s hard to see how cinema can get much bigger than this.” This story first appeared on TODAY.com. 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