Stephen Sommers' “ODD THOMAS”

Movie review by Dennis D. McDonald

ODD THOMAS is made up of elements we’ve seen before in movies like Donnie Darko, The Sixth Sense, and The Frighteners. A young quirky hero, cursed with clairvoyance, senses something awful is about to happen. He stumbles about trying to do something about it.

What makes the movie enjoyable despite its familiarity are the characters, the dialog, and some very well scripted action sequences. The lead characters played by Anton Yelchin (Checkov in the last two Star Trek movies) and Addison Timlin (as “Stormy”) are very well acted and have a lot of quirky chemistry. Willem Dafoe as the sympathetic sherrif, playing against type, adds a touch of whimsical gravitas. Add in some top notch CGI and creature effects and we have a good if somewhat familiar comedy/horror/adventure film that entertains.

Review copyright (c) 2014 by Dennis D. McDonal