MAGA made Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey their latest cultural war freak-out, ranting and raving for more months that the director’s decision to cast trans actor Elliott Page as the Greek soldier Sinon and Lupita Nyong’o as play Helen of Troy was more proof of Hollywood being out of touch with America. “What will speak most is the fact that nobody is going to go see this woke movie, and it’s going to be a box office bust, and they are going to make zero money on it,” declared Newsmax commenter Katie Zacharia, while Elon Musk amplified numerous rage-bait accounts on X that agreed with his assessment that Nolan had “desecrated” Homer’s original text.
Well, in the end Nolan got the last laugh, as The Odyssey is projected to open with a massive $120 million debut at the US box office and boasts a 97% fan Pocornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes (which is 2 points high than its current 95% critical score).
Even some prominent voices on the right can’t help but fawn over the film:
In a review on his YouTube channel, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro gave The Odyssey a 9/10 rating, saying, “It’s really really good. It’s a terrific movie… The movie is a masterpiece … Nolan is great at what he does. The move looks beautiful. It’s well shot. The images are incredible and iconic. There are images you can’t get out of your head after having seen the film.”
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He did have some gripes about the casting of Page (though, to his credit, did not deadname her like other consertatives), but chastised fellow conservatives who used it as justification not to see the film: “I think there’s a message here for conservatives. I know there are a lot of conservatives who are getting pre-whipped up about the film because [of Elliot Page] … It turns out that when people want to be entertained, they are willing to entertain even bad flaws in the tooth if it turns out that the smile is nice. It turns out that people are willing to undergo some bad politics and some bad decision-making if the film is great.
“But if conservatives want to be effective in the culture, you can’t just label the entire piece of art bad because a decision in the art is bad,” Spairo added. “This movie is going to make a fortune. It should make a fortune. It’s creative. It’s interesting. It’s visually incredible. I think the broader theme of the movie is actually very much in line with many things that conservatives think. And if you let Elliot Page kill that for you, I think you’re missing out on an incredible moviegoing experience.”
Griff Jenkins, a weekend anchor on Fox & Friends, was also effusive of The Odyssey, calling it “the best, it’s amazing. It’s [Christopher Nolan’s] best work… I think every ninth grade English teacher across the country owes a debt of gratitude to him because all because all these young people are going to be Homermaxxing…. It’s so well shot… I think Matt Damon will win an Oscar… I would encourage everyone to go out and watch it.”
Conservative podcaster Dave Rubin also called The Odyssey “an absolute masterpiece.”
Find our own review of The Odyssey here. In it, Liz Shannon Miller argued that Nolan turns Homer’s epic into a visually spectacular and deeply somber meditation on war, memory, and the longing for home.
Christopher Nolan discusses The Odyssey with Fox News’ Griff Jenkins after far-right backlash to film goes absolutely nowhere.
“Let me just on behalf of 9th grade English teachers across the country express a great [debt] of gratitude.” pic.twitter.com/Z5I2IDe0EY
— Zachary Leeman (@WritingLeeman) July 18, 2026
The Odyssey was an absolute masterpiece.
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) July 19, 2026