Def reads like a modern-day sequel to the Iliad: the return of some characters with the offscreen deaths of others, certain aspects of the same story are rehashed or revisited, and a deeper exploration of the same cinematic universe. The themes here remain timeless, with some feeling relatively modern, postmodern, or even progressive (compared to Western liberal values), while others remain snapshots of a VERY different age, with some of the characters' values and actions feeling even more "foreign" to me than they were in the Iliad (even more violent and uncompromising revenge; unsympathetic, even positive portrayals of slavery). 

I think Homer's poetry remains relevant because it describes a world like ours: a chaotic one that lacks an easily recognizable good vs evil/Good vs. Bad. The Manichaen, dualistic moral center that so enraptured Western culture arose several centuries after this poem was written; indeed, Socrates lays its foundation, if you buy Nietzsche's argument. Every major Western story from Socrates to the Death of God in the 1800s contains this overt or implied sense that we can make sense of the world through a set of morals and methods of inquiry that derive from a single perfect entity (i.e. God). After the Death of God, we needed to reconstruct the foundations that once underpinned our society, and that's the whole goal of modernism/post-modernism. But modernism/post-modernism feels even less spiritually satisfying than the logical empiricism that arose from the Enlightenment! And that's why Homer matters: this pre-Socratic, pre-Christian epic feels grounded in SOMETHING, namely the Olympian gods and their prescribed rituals, which then leads to an implied sense of kinship between all Greeks. And that feels good and safe and grounded, but feels that way without me disingenuously believing in my culture's quaint attempts at grounding reality (good vs evil, God vs the Devil, good things happening to good people, etc.). It exudes the joy, direction, and simplicity that such normative values generate, but it does so while also admitting the world is chaotic and capricious and unfair and ultimately an unguided, unsolvable mystery. So if you want objective morality but can't stomach Christian God, try pre-Socratic literature! Why did that bad thing happen to a good person? Because Zeus was drunk! Why does the hero fail? Because one of his subordinates didn't sacrifice correctly one time like 5 years ago. Don't like it? Maybe Zeus is sober now, try your luck! And no matter what, treat strangers and travelers with hospitality and be loyal to those you love.