If you plan on shoot­ing your own adap­ta­tion of Home­r’s Odyssey, bear in mind how much rests on your choice of lead­ing man. Though no Odyssey adap­ta­tion fits every­thing in, this one gets just about as com­plete as a clas­sics fan could hope for in its 446-minute run­time. Focus­ing only on the lat­ter half of the Odyssey, the film dra­ma­tizes the reunion of Odysseus and his wife: a very human sto­ry, espe­cial­ly in that it con­tains no mon­sters. But you can get an actor like Ralph Fiennes to play Odysseus — and for that mat­ter, Juli­ette Binoche to play Pene­lope — there’s lit­tle need for a crea­ture fea­ture. Relat­ed Con­tent:Watch the First Spec­tac­u­lar Film Adap­ta­tion of the Odyssey (1911)Hear What Homer’s Odyssey Sound­ed Like When Sung in the Orig­i­nal Ancient GreekA Walk Through Homer’s Odyssey: A Guide to the Epic Before See­ing Christo­pher Nolan’s FilmChristo­pher Hitchens Explains Why Homer’s Odyssey Still Mat­ters to Our World (2000)The Ori­gins of the Mon­sters in Homer’s Odyssey: The Cyclops, Sirens, Scyl­la & MoreGreek Myth Comix Presents Homer’s Ili­ad & Odyssey Using Stick-Man Draw­ingsBased in Seoul, Col­in Marshall writes and broad­casts on cities, lan­guage, and cul­ture.