An Oddly Unkown But Oddly Satisfying Movie

 Did Too Many “Cooks’ Spoil This Dish?

OddThomas (2013) – Odd (that’s his actual name) can see dead people.
They can’t speak, but they can communicate with him that something
terrible is about to happen. One day, he realizes the message is that
something huge and terrible is about to happen to his town. But he
does not know if he can stop it.

Director – Stephen Sommers

Starring Anton Yelchin, Willem Dafoe, Addison Timlin

Why I Liked It – An interesting blend of “The Sixth Sense”
and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” that overcomes the restrictions of
its production.

“Odd Thomas” is an odd movie in more than one way. Its stars
Anton Yelchin, the young actor who portrayed Chekov in the relaunch
of the Star Trek franchise. Yelchin died in a tragic accent just a
handful of years later. The movie came out the same year as “Star
Trek – Into Darkness”, but except for hardcore fans, it is
virtually unknown. They did not release it in U.S. theaters, only
hitting screens in six countries (Italy, Finland, Thailand, Malaysia,
Philippines and the UAE). The problem was that the financing for this
movie was so complicated (lots of fingers in the pie) that no major
distributor saw any way to make any money on it.

That’s too bad, because there’s an audience out there for
this. Yelchin is wonderful as Odd (that’s his actual first name,
which he explains early on), who says he not only sees the dead but
does something about it. He’s paired with Willem Dafoe as the local
police chief who both knows of Odd’s talent, but is smart enough to
know that it works to his advantage to have Odd on his side. Add in
Addison Timlin as Odd’s assertive and smart girlfriend.  Stormy is everything any young man with strange powers could want in a girlfriend.  She’s smart, brave, not at all put off by your weirdness, and she’s very cute. With all that, you
have a solid core to build the story around. All of this is based on
a successful series of novels and graphic novels by Dean Koontz.
While never blockbuster material, “Odd Thomas” could have and
should have earned its modest production costs back.

The acting clunks every once in a while, but Yelchin, Dafoe and
Timlin carry the majority of the load with ease. Looking for a fun little
movie that most of your friends have never heard of? “Odd Thomas”
is the movie you need.

Rating – *** Worth A Look