The Return

The main draw is the cast, with Ralph Fiennes sinewy and racked by self-doubt and guilt as Odysseus, returned from war after a 20-year absence, and a compelling turn from Juliette Binoche as Penelope. Both are terrific, but Binoche is the standout.

Aka ‘The Odyssey: The Bits Without The Monsters’. Not that that should put you off, as Binoche and Fiennes bring some raw, fleshy humanity to this mythic text, giving it a modern twist that balances the film’s flaws.

Ralph Fiennes has beaten Damon to the punch, and here swaggers into unforgettable focus as Odysseus in a lean and lethally effective adaptation...

The Return is not quite a classic, but it serves the spirit of the classics imposingly well.

Certainly, The Return shows us the drudgery of a life in stasis. But those are measly returns on stripping the life out of a literary titan.

The twisty machinations are a bit too familiar, the pacing a tad too glacial before Odysseus’s revenge finally happens, the performances uniformly good but rather self-serious.

The Return offers an acting masterclass from its lead, but little of the kind of dynamic storytelling it takes to make the source material memorable. It’s perhaps best viewed as a gritty introduction to Nolan’s larger scale retelling next year.

The Return offers a new angle on an old, old, old story, rendering it fresh, vital and thoroughly engrossing.

It remains a riveting experience thanks to powerhouse performances from the leads.

This Odysseus just can’t catch a break.