Combining all the quirkiness of an independently-produced film with the supernatural spectacle of a Dean Koontz book, Odd Thomas hits just the right mark. I recall watching this film in high school when it was on Netflix and while I still have not read any of the books, I love how well this movie stands on its own. However, any hopes of a sequel or continuation of this universe are gone because of the tragic passing of the young and talented Anton Yelchin. He gives a solid and humorous performance in this movie and while a lot of the dialogue and writing in this movie does not make the most sense, I still love this film for what it is.
The best part of this entire film is the simple story paired with some impressive CGI and supernatural design. This film follows Odd, played by Anton Yelchin, a fry-cook in a small southern California town who has the ability to communicate with the dead. He uses his gifts to track down killers and solve local mysteries while keeping his ability a secret from the demons known as the bodachs. Yelchin is able to portray this troubled but humorous character very well and brings a lot of life to Odd. Odd has a girlfriend named Stormy, played by Addison Timlin, who is there by his side no matter what happens. Accompanied also by the police chief played by Willem Dafoe and a close friend played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Odd attempts to unravel a murderous new mystery. This simple plot might seem like something out of Scooby-Doo, but it works relatively well for the characters that are introduced. None of the performances particularly shine except for Yelchin, but the story is engaging enough to make the audience care about the characters. For an independent film, this movie has a lot of decent CGI as well. The bodachs, explosions, and action scenes were done well and it was not painful or distracting to look at, like a lot of cheap stunts that are done nowadays.
Mitchell Amundsen's cinematography caught my eye too. Even though his style seems overly-ambitious and over-the-top in a few scenes, it fit the tone of this film perfectly. The tone is very frantically fun and the camerawork was able to fit that hectic mood. The final part of this film that I have adored since I originally watched it was the twist in the writing at the end. Re-watching this movie allowed me to put some more of the pieces together to prepare myself for the emotional realization that Stormy had been dead since the mall shooting. This twist is still hidden very well and for a first-time viewer, they definitely will be shocked. And I especially love the ending of the film as Odd travels to Las Vegas to start his full-circle work on what he and Stormy had originally planned. This heartfelt ending was a very solid way to make this film a one-off and provide a great story without the reliance on cliffhangers.
For someone who has never read any of the Odd Thomas books, I found this film to be very effective in its storytelling by itself. However, the writing of the characters' personalities and mannerisms did not translate to the screen very smoothly. My biggest issue with this movie is its dialogue. While some could argue that it is written in its quirky way for the sake of maintaining the more lighthearted tone, it does not make sense for a standalone movie. It almost seems like the relationships between the characters and the way they talk to each other was developed in the books but not on the screen. This made a lot of the lines, especially between Odd and Stormy, very unauthentic. Another problem that I had with the writing was giving Odd his self-described power of "psychic magnetism," which helped to lead Odd to any upcoming trouble. In my opinion, this was simply a cheat to get Odd into the next scene of the film, helping to further the narrative. While it was a comedic way to move the story along, it just seemed very convenient that he was able to simply walk around to discover the antagonist.
While it is obvious a lot of this film's budget went towards adapting a Dean Koontz book with lots of special effects and not the writing, I appreciate it for its valiant effort. Odd Thomas is a very entertaining and worthy movie with some decent performances and an undeniably fun aesthetic. I would definitely recommend this movie for not just fans of the books, but to support some independent films as well.
My Rating: ★★★½
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