Review: Odd Thomas
I enjoy a romp into the supernatural just about as much as the next guy, so when the chance to check out Stephen Sommers’ ODD THOMAS presented itself, I jumped on it. The flick stars Anton Yelchin, who always does a decent job, and Willem Dafoe, who is pretty much all kinds of awesome. And it’s from the director of such fantastically entertaining flicks as THE MUMMY, VAN HELSING, and the criminally underrated DEEP RISING. So did ODD THOMAS fulfill my need for a supernatural good time? Yes… more or less.
What’s ODD THOMAS about, you ask? Well, according to IMDb, it goes down like this: In a California desert town, a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities encounters a mysterious man with a link to dark, threatening forces.
Going into this, I knew ODD THOMAS was based on series of books by Dean Koontz, but having never ready any of those books, I don’t have anything to compare it to other than itself. For the most part, ODD THOMAS is a relatively light supernatural mystery, channeling movies like THE FRIGHENERS and CONSTANTINE with its similar story and tone. Crazy demonic shit is going down in this movie with the end of the world being inement, but that doesn’t stop ol’ Odd Thomas (Yechin) from cracking casual one-liners, or sharing quipping conversations with this girlfriend (Addison Timlin) or the town’s Chief of Police (Dafoe). Because while serious shit is happening, the movie doesn’t treat it as such. And for me, this approach worked quite well.
This is what I really liked: the design of the creatures (called bodachs) and how they’re swarming everywhere and Thomas is the only one who can see them. The relationship Thomas has with his girlfriend is smart and believable, to the point where you could only wish your relationship with your significant other was as cool and relaxed as theirs is. Dafoe is good, the overall story is compelling enough, reaching into the film noir style, with Thomas being the reluctant Private Eye on the case. Basically, it all adds up to an extremely entertaining movie.
However, it’s not all roses. I didn’t really care for the overwhelmingly quirky tone the movie has going for it. I liked it in small doses, but as the film goes on and shit gets heavier and heavier, the light heartedness never really lets up. This may not be a bad thing for everyone, but for me, it was a little… odd. The crisis is big, but it never really presents itself to be as big as it should have been, which is probably why it never made it to theaters, because it’s just not quite big enough (which is surprising, considering this is from the guy who made Van Helsing an over-the-top action hero).
All-in-all though, ODD THOMAS is a very watchable supernatural mystery. Its tone is light, its special effects are good, and everyone gets an A for effort. And while the final execution wasn’t perfect, I’d still recommend people check it out, as it’s (more or less) an enjoyable time waster.
Grade: B-