An Odyssey without paganism: In Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation, the gods are almost entirely absent—and the hero is motivated by something like Christian ethics. (Kathryn Reklis, August 5, 2026, Christian Century)
Perhaps most surprising is the way Nolan brings the story into a Christianly inflected moral universe (but without making it a Christian movie). The Greek principle of xenia, the reciprocal bond between strangers and hosts that demands hospitality and gift exchange, is updated as a general moral principle articulated by one character as a version of the golden rule and extended by Odysseus even to acts of war. The Odysseus of Homer’s poem does not spend time worrying if his feats of cunning to win the war are ethical or if he has an obligation to treat his enemies with kindness and fairness. Nolan’s Odysseus seems to think of little else.