O’Dessa Parent Guide

O’Dessa Galloway (Sadie Sink) dreams of being a rambler, like her father before her and his father before him and so on for seven generations. All she has to her name is the family guitar, which was built from the wood of a burning tree as part of a prophesy that the Seventh Son would play it and bring light to the darkness – but that’s enough on which to base a dream.

Along the way, the guitar is stolen by some fellow travelers. Desperate to get it back, O’Dessa travels to Satylite City, a grimy metropolis ruled by the charismatic Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett). There she meets Euri (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a performer who has long given up hope of freedom but sees in O’Dessa a destiny he could have never imagined.

One of my greatest cinematic pet peeves is a movie that thinks it’s smarter than it is. I hate when I can feel the director staring at me through the screen saying “Aren’t I clever? Look at my genius”, but what’s on screen is nothing more than shallow drivel. And that’s what O’Dessa is on almost every front - a hollow, self-indulgent slog with nothing to say. And don’t get me started on how derivative it is. This film offers no original ideas or visuals, just empty imitations of better productions such as Blade Runner, Mad Max, and Running Man.

Although the film is a mess of nothing, the movie’s music is fantastic. From the first minute, I was hooked on the rock/country vibes and stellar vocals. Sadie Sink gives a fantastic performance, both in acting and singing, and the cast around her are terrific as well. They deserve a better film with a stronger script. Honestly, I can’t tell you what the point of this film is supposed to be. It has nothing substantive to say and leaves the audience with nothing more than 106 lost minutes.

At a solid PG-13 rating for language, drug use, and some violence, young and sensitive audiences may want to stay away, but so should most people, even the most die-hard of rock opera fans. Give the soundtrack a listen if you’re curious, but don’t waste your time on anything else related to this film. I’ve stepped in puddles deeper than this story.