4/10 – Hey Gang! Let’s all get in the Mystery Machine!
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| Dear lord I hope they change this poster |
The current film summary claims that Odd is a short order cook with extraordinary power! He is a short order cook in one scene, so take the humble beginnings aspect with a grain of salt. Our "hero" also has a built in powers that are never explained, to prevent him from actually having to work hard at anything. He "senses" evil, sees what will happen in his dreams, and can "magnetically" find the bad guys. This kid is the worst detective ever.
The number of “writing rules” that are broken in Odd Thomas fundamentally bothers me. It’s lazy writing. Granted, it’s from a novel so I can’t blame the screenwriter, but maybe blame Koontz a little. It’s just one cliché after another in this universe. Good people are good. Bad people are bad.
Anton Yelchin is a great actor, but Odd as a character is paper thin. Odd is a good guy, who is given the answers to solve crimes, he just has to show up and do it, without any internal struggle or conflict. He is a perfect person who has extra abilities and no flaws. The characters aren't improved with "Stormy" either, she flops on screen. As the second Mary Sue, she is immaculate, brilliant, and the source of all of Odd's happiness. Good people are good. Bad people are bad.
Every character also falls into the "single child with no parents" universe which just doesn't work, especially when trying to develop a small town atmosphere. No one has any relation to one another. I get it; these things work better in a novel. In a film like this it only serves to make those characters even more distant and unrelatable. They are on a pedestal, and I just want to see them get knocked down.
The bad guys have the weakest motivation I think I’ve ever witnessed in a movie. Frankly that isn’t new for Stephen Sommers, (The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Mummy Does More Bad Things, We Ran Out of Mummies, Honey I Shrunk the Mummy) But of course this is going to be a mystery if there is literally no way to solve the crime because it’s entirely spontaneous. They just appear and do bad things because they feel like it. I can’t stress enough how much this movie turns into an episode of Scooby Doo by the end. Odd Thomas runs to the baddie and rips their mask off saying "it was Old Man McGuffin all along" and then everything is right in the world again. Good people are good. Bad people are bad.
I’m making this sound unwatchable. If you want to sit down and watch a movie with some light harmless action and very little detective work by a bunch of detectives, this movie is for you! If you thought Cabin in the Woods was terrible because you didn't bother to think about what was happening, this movie is also for you! It’s not a total fail. It has a mystery element that is genuinely surprising. It also keeps things relatively fast paced because people need to run everywhere, all the time.
Odd Thomas actually does a good job of creating high stakes at the very beginning of the movie, not letting the audience wait around for that to happen. It falters though when they have to maintain those high stakes throughout the rest of the film, because by the end I wasn't very concerned. It also tries so hard to maintain the smart, quick, witty dialogue that it forgets to make the movie smart and witty.
I’d love to hear other people’s opinions on this movie but without a wide release there aren't many reviews up. I have no doubt that a ton of people will think this movie is fantastic. But for me, it should have been a 22 minute cartoon with a doggie sidekick.
IMDB - Odd Thomas (6.6)
Wikipedia - Odd Thomas Movie
Rotten Tomatoes - Odd Thomas (No Reviews)
Amazon.ca - Odd Thomas
The number of “writing rules” that are broken in Odd Thomas fundamentally bothers me. It’s lazy writing. Granted, it’s from a novel so I can’t blame the screenwriter, but maybe blame Koontz a little. It’s just one cliché after another in this universe. Good people are good. Bad people are bad.
Anton Yelchin is a great actor, but Odd as a character is paper thin. Odd is a good guy, who is given the answers to solve crimes, he just has to show up and do it, without any internal struggle or conflict. He is a perfect person who has extra abilities and no flaws. The characters aren't improved with "Stormy" either, she flops on screen. As the second Mary Sue, she is immaculate, brilliant, and the source of all of Odd's happiness. Good people are good. Bad people are bad.
Every character also falls into the "single child with no parents" universe which just doesn't work, especially when trying to develop a small town atmosphere. No one has any relation to one another. I get it; these things work better in a novel. In a film like this it only serves to make those characters even more distant and unrelatable. They are on a pedestal, and I just want to see them get knocked down.
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| Anton Yelchin as Odd Thomas |
I’m making this sound unwatchable. If you want to sit down and watch a movie with some light harmless action and very little detective work by a bunch of detectives, this movie is for you! If you thought Cabin in the Woods was terrible because you didn't bother to think about what was happening, this movie is also for you! It’s not a total fail. It has a mystery element that is genuinely surprising. It also keeps things relatively fast paced because people need to run everywhere, all the time.
Odd Thomas actually does a good job of creating high stakes at the very beginning of the movie, not letting the audience wait around for that to happen. It falters though when they have to maintain those high stakes throughout the rest of the film, because by the end I wasn't very concerned. It also tries so hard to maintain the smart, quick, witty dialogue that it forgets to make the movie smart and witty.
I’d love to hear other people’s opinions on this movie but without a wide release there aren't many reviews up. I have no doubt that a ton of people will think this movie is fantastic. But for me, it should have been a 22 minute cartoon with a doggie sidekick.
IMDB - Odd Thomas (6.6)
Wikipedia - Odd Thomas Movie
Rotten Tomatoes - Odd Thomas (No Reviews)
Amazon.ca - Odd Thomas
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