O’Dessa is a new post-apocalyptic musical drama film due to release on Hulu from Searchlight Pictures on March 20th. The film stars Sadie Sink, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, and Regina Hall. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, O’Dessa (Sink) goes on a journey to retrieve a family heirloom and rescue her one true love.

It’s a pretty simple premise if I am being completely honest. When the poster released what felt like a month or two ago, I can’t say it looked promising. What intrigued the most though was seeing Sadie Sink in the lead role. I genuinely thought she would show promise in the lead role. While she does show promise in a film full of ambition, I can’t help but still feel underwhelmed by the final product.

Now that we have officially left 2024, this film made me forget the countless musicals we got in that year. Way too much if you’re asking me. I try to be open minded with any film, but musicals can be so hit or miss for me. The music here actually works. I could either see myself enjoying the soundtrack or I could even the film becoming a cult classic due to its music. It has this punk rick operatic tone that feels fitting for the film’s style & plot. With an original story and original music, I can’t be too upset this film got made.

The film also has a distinct style to it. What I found most impressive in its opening logos was how the colors used for the film matched the Searchlight Pictures logo. It establishes originality and gives the film an identity of its own that I believe will make anyone excited for something new. Writer & director Geremy Jasper establishes a vision that is wholly unique to his style. I went in expecting the best, but by the second half, I was tired out and overwhelmed.

I typically can be forgiving when a film opens up on text that is meant to explain this world to you, even if it’s not my favorite plot device. The truth is that it’s not needed. The film tries to spoon-feed everything to you to have it all make sense. The problem is that there is way too much ground to cover to have it make sense. I think it would have been better without it. Better yet, the film could have quickly gone over the events that lead to where our characters are now. It had way too much more potential to go deeper into this world and its lore.

The film undoubtedly has a unique visual style. Unfortunately, it can become too much of a good thing, leading into some haphazard editing that makes it difficult to fully understand what’s going on. I love when films use colors to help establish an identity. The first half does a great job at that, but when the second half comes, I felt like the film was beginning to rush by relying too much on CGI that really took me out of the film.

The first half has a lot of great components, but the second half is also rushed in other areas as well. One of the biggest problems the film goes through is how the character dynamics and chemistry is non-existent. We are meant to believe that Sadie Sink and Kelvin Harrison Jr. instantly fall in love even when they barely spend time together. I found Sink & Harrison’s character’s very compelling, but when you mix the two together, I barely believed the chemistry. The film has a lot of great and unique characters. For a film that is meant to deepen the themes through said chemistry, it’s hard to get attached when the chemistry isn’t even there.

The film’s style & tone reminds me a lot of The Fifth Element if it was an operatic rock musical. The idea isn’t bad. I am just burnt out on movies relying too much on CGI and non-existent chemistry. Geremy Jasper knows how to create something unique, but I also feel like he could have given the talent more time to spend with one another. You also have Murray Bartlett & Regina Hall in the film. They are both great in their own right. Without giving Bartlett enough character motive and disguising Hall in too much wakeup underutilizes their talents.

Overall, I expect O’Dessa to be a big hit for the streamer. Sadie Sink proves she can lead a film on her own and Geremy Jasper shows promise as a filmmaker. I personally found the problems with the film undermines its true potential to have a deeper impact.

VERDICT: 2/5 (Bad)