Movies don't get much bigger than "The Odyssey," director Christopher Nolan's mega-sized take on Homer's ancient epic poem, and the director has fashioned a spectacle-first presentation where his grand visual design and the scope of his vision sometimes overwhelms his characters and the cast of Hollywood heavyweights bringing them to life.

Or maybe it's just that the actors themselves feel dwarfed by the sheer magnitude of everything going on around them, from colossal ships to majestic cliffside shots to gargantuan monsters to literal giants populating the frame.

It's not just the scale of everything on screen that becomes overpowering, it's the story itself, a classic hero's quest/homecoming journey rendered in pure maximalist fashion. (You don't need to see it in 70 mm, but you do need to see it in IMAX.)

Half of Hollywood is cast in the movie, and the troops are led by Matt Damon's Odysseus, the man whose mythic adventure sets the framework for the story.

But more than Damon, more than Robert Pattinson or Anne Hathaway or Tom Holland, Himesh Patel or John Leguizamo, the star of "The Odyssey" is Nolan, and that's no accident.

Since he marked his arrival with "Memento" at the turn of the millennium (and since "Oppenheimer" swept the Oscars three years ago), Nolan has become Hollywood's go-to guy for prestige blockbuster filmmaking. The cult he's built around himself, with his adherence to the totems of cinema, has created a new class of film bros, and he's responsible for a large chunk of the current health around film culture.

He's carrying the mantle for capital-M Movies, and while not single-handedly, he's helping to preserve and eventize the art form. "The Odyssey" is his tallest mountain yet, and it's unclear where he goes from here, although scaling back down to something that resembles "Memento" would be welcome. Christopher Nolan's "The Iliad" might be a bit much to bear.

So here's "The Odyssey," and the first voice heard on screen is that of rapper Travis Scott, a thoroughly odd choice given the talent assembled. Scott, playing a town bard, is setting the table for the storytelling around Odysseus, who has been on his 20-year journey, and who looms large in the minds of both his subjects awaiting his return and those openly speculating he has long since passed and seeking to replace him.

Among those carrying on in his shadow are his wife, Penelope, played by a stern Hathaway, and his son, Telemachus, played by a timid and seemingly over-his-head Holland. The "Spider-Man" actor has had a difficult time proving himself onscreen in roles that don't require webslinging, and his work in "The Odyssey" won't do much to quiet his detractors.

Robert Pattinson is Antinous, and he's the most forceful in his pursuit of Penelope, hanging around her and trying to convince her of Odysseus' demise, and his worthiness of her in his absence. Pattinson is an always interesting actor, but his role here reduces him to sniveling villainy, and his taunting of Telemachus never raises above the level of schoolyard bully.

Nolan shifts time in his storytelling, as he tends to do, flipping between the present and flashbacks and road notes from Odysseus' travels.

The movie is at its best when we're with Odysseus and his men — Himesh Patel is Eurylochus, Odysseus' No. 2 in command — and they encounter treachery on the seas and monstrous creatures on the land. An extended encounter with a Cyclops (played by Bill Irwin) is among the film's best, most awe-inspiring sequences.

The Trojan Horse sequence is another showstopper, with Odysseus and his men crammed inside the hollow figure as it is taken inside the gates of Troy. As Sinon, Odysseus' cousin, Elliot Page has a couple of key scenes framed around the wooden structure, and he leaves a lasting impression, especially in a latter scene where he visits Odysseus from the afterlife.

Samantha Morton also has a memorable role as Circe, a spell-casting witch who turns Odysseus' men into literal pigs, and John Leguizamo does his best work in years as Eumaeus, Odysseus' loyal servant, who is quietly the soul of the film.

And that's not to mention Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o and Zendaya, who also figure into the gargantuan story in various capacities.

Nolan does a solid job of deploying his cast, but all of the players seem a bit constrained by their roles; the movie is primed for a scene stealer who never truly emerges.

But that's because Nolan is running an incredibly tight ship, and no one was looking to rock the boat by going into business for themselves.

The cast, and Nolan's entire team — including Oscar-winning cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, three-time Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, Oscar-winning editor Jennifer Lame, Oscar-nominated production designer Ruth De Jong and Oscar-nominated costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, all of whom also worked on "Oppenheimer" — are there to service Nolan's vision, and to help him bring his ship to shore. It's a magnificent team effort.

There is some goofiness afoot, including a climactic character reveal that the audience is in on for far too long to elicit the desired response, and there's a hollowing effect to the text that deadens many of the actors and their performances. (It's a shame Zendaya or Theron don't leave more of a mark.)

But when a movie is this enormous, it becomes all-consuming, larger than any of its individual parts. It's Nolan's biggest movie to date, and even in its flaws, it marks a striking achievement in film. Fittingly, it's epic.

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'THE ODYSSEY'

Grade: B+

MPA rating: R (for violence and some language)

Running time: 2:52

How to watch: In theaters July 17

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