But while The Odyssey fits neatly into Nolan's filmography with its overarching themes of fate and consequences, its epic visual scale, and its reliance on IMAX technology, his adaptation of a 2,800-year-old poem also diverges from what we've come to expect in surprising ways.

Nothing is going to keep Amber Connaghan, a 29-year-old tech editor who lives in the California desert, from seeing Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" on opening day. Connaghan bought her ticket over a year ago and has been gearing up for the three-hour drive to the closest theater playing the film in Imax 70mm.