Daniel Mendelsohn

“Nolan has merely remade Homer’s hero in his own image.”

Daniel Mendelsohn · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-19

Mendelsohn argued that Nolan reshaped Homer's hero to match his own filmmaking style.

“no cleverness, no humor, no wily charm.”

Daniel Mendelsohn · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-19

Mendelsohn faulted Nolan for portraying Odysseus without the qualities that define the original character.

“This tormented, guilt-ridden Odysseus, stripped of humor and wit, seductiveness and cleverness, is a sibling of Memento’s anguished amnesiac, of Batman, of Oppenheimer, men tormented by pasts they wrestle with in different ways,”

Daniel Mendelsohn · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-19

Mendelsohn wrote in The New York Review of Books that Nolan's Odysseus resembles protagonists from his previous films.

“provoke, challenge and discomfit how we think about beauty and identity.”

Daniel Mendelsohn · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-19

Mendelsohn had previously defended Nolan's decision to cast Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy.