ODD THOMAS (Review)

Review by Elizabeth Weitz

Odd Thomas is one of those films that will most definitely get lost among the end-of-month releases and that is a real shame, for this movie is quite possibly one the smartest and well-intentioned genre flicks to come out in a long time.

A cross between The Frighteners and Constantine (although lets be honest here, this is a lot better) Odd Thomas is the story of a small-town fry cook blessed (or cursed depending on who you ask) with the gift to see dead people. Only instead of being frightened by it, he uses his power to track down those who caused the violent death and kick some serious ass, a premise that might seem ladled straight out of the boring soup stock of Hollywood genre, but it manages to defeat that curse through superb acting and smart dialog.

Unlike a lot of films that use the “I See Dead People” premise as a way to insert conflict into character relationships, Odd (played by Anton Yelchin) doesn’t hide his gift from those he is closest to, like the local sheriff (Willem Defoe) who covers for Odd when his talent might become known to the masses or his girlfriend Stormy (Addison Timlin) who not only accept Odd’s particular gift, but supports (albeit cautiously) his quest with a level of honest love and devotion that would seem almost sappy in a less talented actor’s hands.

To be honest I didn’t hold out much hope that Odd Thomas would be anything but boring (let’s face it, movies dumped at the end of February rarely have the cache to go the entertainment distance) but I was completely smitten by it.

Sure the premise is recycled: Weird guy with powers finds out that an apocalyptic murder spree is going to happen in his small town and only has 24-hours to figure out where and when before the bodies pile up all around him. Add to that some creatures from hell that only he can see (called Bodachs) who feed off the carnage of violence and will kill him if they find out he is aware of them, and you have just about every plot point of the Horror/Fantasy/Sci-Fi movie genre.

But unlike most of those movies, Odd Thomas is pretty self-aware of itself and deviates from the traditional muck by giving the characters actual brains that work and reactions to events that you or I would most likely have. Take for instance the Sheriff, a character that usually fits into one of two molds: Assholes who refuse to believe the main character until the very end or, the main psychopath. In this case Chief Wyatt Porter is a well-rounded guy who is grateful for his friendship with Odd and works with him to capture bad guys, not to mention that two men have a complete and utter respect for one another even though Odd seems to know exactly when the Sheriff and his wife are about to get it on and totally interrupts them EVERY SINGLE TIME. In the usual movieverse you’d expect that they would fight or at least have some animosity toward each other but no, they are colleagues who are connected together to stop horrific things from happening (or taking care of them when they do) and it is not only refreshing but adds a depth to the movie you don’t often see.

Which brings us to the relationship between Odd and Stormy.

Now, I have seen thousands of movies in which the characters are supposedly absolutely and completely in love with one another and I have always felt that real love is hard to show on screen since it takes a certain subtlety and bond that requires more within the silences than it does through dialog alone (and who doesn’t cringe at love scenes between empty, vapid characters with no chemistry) but these two have the most solid and respectful relationship I have ever seen on screen. Cute without being saccharine, loving without the all the angst, respectful and adoring without making you want to puke…a combination that I have to profess I wish I could see in the movies a hell of a lot more.

Yes, all-in-all this is a pretty straight genre film that recycles a lot of well-known plot points that we have all seen before and, even though it manages to do so in clever and well-written ways, we already know what is going to happen before the movie shows us.  But let’s not throw in the towel just yet. Just because we know the destination doesn’t mean the journey is trite.  In fact, it isn’t and that is why the film is a great deal of fun and worth the 96 minutes.

Sometimes you want to see a movie that entertains you that doesn’t insult your intelligence and in the capable hands of this cast (as well as director Stephen Sommers) you get both, a surprising amount of fun while still making you feel that your IQ is in the triple digits when you walk out of the movie.

So don’t let this flick pass you by.