Christopher Nolan’s Critical Odyssey

Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey,” out on July 17, is the most hotly awaited sword-and-sandal epic since Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” (2000). More than Hollywood’s future is at stake. Ancient or modern, every civilization needs its epics. Mr. Nolan revived Batman’s mythology in the Gothic Gotham of “The Dark Knight” and Space Age nostalgia for the American future in “Interstellar.” Can “The Odyssey” bring it all back home in America’s 250th summer?