04 of 31 Horror Films I've Never Seen 2016: Odd Thomas (2013)

Critical writing can be a god damn pain in the ass.  The writer wants to be fair, but must also admit his/her biases, and get through all the muck to some how quantify a qualitative written review.  Some writers revel in writing negative criticism and while I've found myself in the position to do so, I don't enjoy it, but here I am about to write a mostly negative review of Stephen Sommers' Odd Thomas.

The first of a series of popular novels by Dean Koontz and set in a fictional California desert town called Pico Mundo, Odd Thomas is a film about a young man who is a detective for the dead.  He has a psychic gift to spirits of murdered people and helps capture their murderers.  His power then leads him to a chance to prevent a mass murder in his town, but not without cost.  At the start the film is a supernatural detective story with a lot of quirky dialogue and comedy thrown in for good measure.  Anton Yelchin, who played the lead, truly is the star of the show, relegating pretty much everyone else (Willem Dafoe, Addison Timlin, et al) to the background.  He embodies the idea of the character superbly, but unfortunately that does not save the film.

The thing about genre bending is that there has to be some sort of underlying thematic or tonal consistency.  Odd Thomas is all over the map.  The opening, which I enjoyed, sets up the story and the protagonists quite smoothly and although there is the strange discrepancy of a small town police chief (Willem Dafoe) being supportive of this strange kid's endeavors, it's one that is easy enough to overlook.  The character dynamic of star crossed love between Odd and Stormy (Addison Timlin) comes across well, but at times in a sort of annoyingly predictable way.  When you know how a scene is going to play out before it's finished playing out it's because you're characters have become 2-dimensional, which, again unfortunately, seems to happen a number of times throughout the middle portion of the film.

Stylistically, the look of the film was probably the most consistent part.  The desert environment is amplified by warm cinematography which is an added bonus.  Most horror films seem to adopt a very de-saturated cold look, which at this point has become a tiresome cliche.  This doesn't fully save the film, but it is a saving grace.  The ending "twist" was kinda wasted with bad pacing and a sudden drastic tonal shift that, while effective in eliciting emotion, still left me thinking "Really?  That's it?"  To summarize: Odd Thomas is not a bad film, but it's not a good film either.  It all comes down to personal taste and while it does offer quite a bit, it fails to offer enough.  Make your own decision and rent it or watch it on Netflix.

 

We're Not Policemen. We're Spys: A Most Wanted Man

Ever since 9/11, there has been an emphasis in the "Spy Thriller" genre to create a sort of gung-ho terrorist take down conclusion to further define the narrative as a good vs evil situation, similar to our news media.  Of course, anyone who chooses to educate themselves past High School knows that there is no such thing as good and even.  Rather, there are thousands of shades of gray to every angle of every story.  Few films convey this fact and when they do they're often not met with financial success.  A Most Wanted Man is one of these films and you should do yourself a favor and pay it some considerable attention.

Based on the 2008 John Le Carre novel of the same title, it centers around an intelligence organization that is shadowing two particular men to determine ties to Al Qaeda.  Caught up in the mess are a Banker and a grass roots civil rights Lawyer, but the central characters are Chechen, Issa, and German intelligence man, Gunther Bachmann (one of the final roles of late Philip Seymour Hoffman.)  Bachmann seems to not only have his mission at hand, but seems to continuously clash with an incredibly hawkish German security council and the CIA as well.

What this film does, exceptionally well, is provide multiple points of view.  From the Lawyer to the CIA official, the characters all seem to have a very clearly defined idea of what they stand for and what makes them who they are.  It is Bachmann alone who seems to be more concerned on the big picture, while the Security Council and CIA are more interested in taking down what they believe to be key players in the war on terror.  We start to wonder, who is really the Most Wanted Man (a potential play on words) as the story plays out.

Le Carre was inspired by the real life story of Murat Kurnaz who was kidnapped by the CIA, jailed and tortured in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay for five years under the Bush administration.  While Le Carre's obviously fictional story serves more as a soap box for dissent against many post 9/11 Policies that had sprung up world wide, it also serves as a huge "What If..." argument.  As it was proven that Kurnaz was not a military combatant, is it not possible, likely even, that there are many more people under similar treatment and scrutiny?  How do we justify actions taken before all the facts are in.  

It's no secret that to win popular opinion the only thing that matters is an immediate result.  This is the central theme of the film, the long term vs the short term.  There's also a crippling sense of the humanity one must set aside to attain the goals of the, so-called, greater good and "making the world a safer place."  I can think of no better cast to portray these themes than the one in this film.  Philip Seymour Hoffman's controlled performance is shattered in the stunning climax of the film, making Bachmann's story truly heart breaking.  Furthermore, I seem to find myself more and more surprised at how good Rachel McAdams can be, and when you've got stalwart's like Robin Wright and Willem Dafoe on top of your incredible international support cast, you cannot lose.

This film is a slow burn, make no mistake, and it is made in the same vein as previous Le Carre adaptation Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.  Director Anton Corbijn makes use of wide shots so well in this film that it feels like it's from a different era entirely, adding to the unsettling nature of the subject matter.  A must see for fans of great cinema, but unfortunately this film will probably not keep the attention of the blockbuster junkie.