IHAO on ... Odd Thomas

Sorry, but this Japanese poster is flippin' awesome.

I'm not sure if you remember this, but way back a month or so ago, I did a trailer trash where I featured the Odd Thomas trailer.  I was crazy excited to see it in theaters!  And then ... it didn't come anywhere near me.  Problem of being a critic in a small town I suppose.  I saw that it was out on DVD/Blu Ray, so I figured I'd just wait to save up the money to get it.  Then while going through Netflix, queuin' up my viewin' for the week, I spotted Odd Thomas sitting there in the New Releases!  I was stoked.  I was so excited to see it, and I sat down and watched it, hoping against hope it would be as cool as I thought it would be.  And ...

Honestly, it was better than I hoped.  I hope for MIB-style just fun and intriguing.  What I got was a dark action supernatural thriller with a great Peter Parker-esque lead who just absolutely steals the screen, and an amazing supporting cast, super awesome effects from Stephen Sommers (who, while I do hate Van Helsing, has overall continued to put out good, funny, action supernatural films) and a film that is way deeper and more interesting than I thought it would be.

I really don't have too much bad to say.  Uh ... actually, sitting here and thinking about it, I don't have ... ANYTHING bad to say.  Anton Yelchin is just perfect.  He is able to keep a dour and serious demeanor while still doing really funny quips.  Odd is such an incredibly interesting character, and played just perfectly.  Every one of the lead actors is great: Addison Timlin as a great non-damsel love interest; Willam DaFoe plays a great father-figure cop; Gugu Mbatha-Raw has the greatest name in film, and always plays a really nice believable mother with slight psychic abilities ...

Hold down slow up there, need some context for all this crazy talk.

Oh, right, I guess I should talk plot.  Odd Thomas can see ghosts, and has some interesting variations on psychic powers.  He can also see hell-demons called Bodaks who live off the coming fear and pain of imminent bad stuffs.  So we see him trying to help police chief DaFoe with a new lead ... but this one is way crazier than he's ever seen, and the Bodaks are out in larger numbers than he's ever known.  It is a race against time to save untold numbers of people from a threat he has no clue how to look for, as those around him who know his secret try to help.

It is a very lean film, very focused on its thrilling plot and mystery, but with a lot of great character to cement it all together.  I really cannot say a single bad thing about the film.  I liked it a whole bunch, and I bet a lot of you out there would also love it.  Give it a shot.

Grade: A+