REVIEW: ‘O’Dessa’ Lacks The Character Development Needed to be An Enjoyable Movie
A rock opera set in a post-apocalyptic world, O’Dessa (Sadie Sink) tells the story of a young farm girl, who has the gift of song. Following in the footsteps of her father, O’Dessa leaves her farm life behind to become a rambler, or someone who travels the world using their gift of song to “comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” Her guitar, inherited from her father, is believed to have magical abilities that will help her on her journey. As the “Seventh Son,” at least according to her father, O’Dessa and her guitar have the power to change the world. When her guitar is stolen by a group of scavengers early on her journey, O’Dessa heads to Satylite City to take back what is hers. It is here in this dangerous city where O’Dessa realizes things aren’t what they seem. The people of Satylite City are transfixed by an American Idol-esque type show hosted by the devious, Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett). As O’Dessa spends more time in the city trying to earn back her guitar, she comes across her one true love, Euri Dervish (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Sharing a passion for music, the pair fall head over heels for each other but are only told they can’t be together by Plutonovich henchman, Neon Dion (Regina Hall). Now, O’Dessa will do whatever it takes to win her guitar back and see to it that she and Euri can be together forever.
Written and directed by Geremy Jasper, O’Dessa lacks the story to be a great movie. The story is supposed to be a retelling of the Greek myth featuring Orpheus and Eurydice, but it doesn’t do the story justice. The characters lack development which would have helped flesh out the story. This is especially seen with the villains of the story, Plutonovich and Neon Deon. The audience never learns why these two characters are doing what they’re doing. There are too many questions left unanswered, which would have helped make the story more interesting. Instead, Jaspen spent too much time trying to prove the movie was a post-apocalyptic movie. Featuring numerous tropes and a heavy influence by the Mad Max post-apocalyptic world, Jasper could have used that time to flesh out his characters.
The movie’s one redeeming quality is the music. Filled with over a dozen original songs, each song fits nicely into the story. This movie isn’t a musical, so characters aren’t breaking into song every minute. Instead, the songs are mainly sung by Sink as a way to help tell the story. Sink’s voice is captivating, but it is her performance that keeps the story somewhat entertaining. Harrison does well alongside Sink, but his character suffered from lack of development, which was not only a disservice to the character, but to him as well. The same can be said about Bartlett’s Plutonovich and Hall’s Neon Dion. More should have been done for both their characters, as the blips we saw left us wanting more.
O’Dessa, thankfully, will be streaming on Hulu, so there is no need to rush out to see it. The movie is a decent one to play in the background while doing something else, or if you are a big Sadie Sink fan. However, there is no rush nor any other reason to check this one out.
Grade: C-