FILM REVIEW: Odd Thomas

Odd Thomas is a 2013 film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. The film stars Anton Yelchin, Addison Timlin and Willem Dafoe and was released on the 17 July 2013. The film is based on Odd Thomas the lead character of the Odd Thomas series written by popular horror writer Dean Koontz.

PLOT

In a California desert town, a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities encounters a mysterious man with a link to dark, threatening forces.

WHY I WATCHED

This film came out of nowhere as far as I could see with a serious cast. Anton Yelchin ends up working as Odd. I thought it was worth taking another chance of a film to movie adaption and I thought that maybe with this not being a YA book.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I was blown away by Odd Thomas, imagine if you will every mistake and out and out crazy change that Hollywood has made in recent book to movie translations or you know just remember The Golden Compass film and after you manage to stop screaming come back and read the rest of this review.

Odd Thomas manages to dodge the potholes that so many other book-to-films fell into by simply sticking to the script. It seems that with Dean Koontz on board for the screenplay the world of Pico Mundo springs onto screen vividly and for a fan of the books feels like home.

A brave decision was to keep the voice over (narration) from the book series, Odd Thomas is a POV narration and I have seen enough previous offerings from Hollywood to show that usually they really, really hate that but it stays in here and works magnificently. It is an essential tool for the viewer because this film and its supernatural origins are likely nothing they have seen bother without prior knowledge of the books.

I can’t finish this without talking about the great performances put in by Anton Yelchin and Addison Timlin. Anton is great as Odd portraying a genuine man at ease in his own skin despite the everyday horrors of his life and Addison is great and very visually distracting as the fiery and independent Stormy. Those two hold the film together and they have great onscreen chemistry.

Could this be the most accurate book to film ever made I think so and I would highly recommend fans of the supernatural to check this out even if you had never heard of Odd Thomas before.