After an IRA-sponsored bank heist goes wrong, a seriously wounded man wanders Belfast.I spent most of this film wondering about the title card at the beginning that pretentiously proclaimed the film was about "the hearts of men" and not the IRA. I kept looking for what the film was saying about the hearts of
men, but the collection of characters was more varied and idiosyncratic than can be reduced to types; they don't seem emblematic of a particular political position. I felt like the film wanted to be more reductive than what I saw in it, which is a strange reversal of fortune. The action sequences, particularly the attempted escape from the bank, were often thrilling. When the film became a character study instead of an action film in the second and third acts, director Carol Reed handled that transition well, though not seamlessly.James Mason flashes bits of a fleshed-out character, but mostly the script relegates him to playing wounded, but the large, supporting cast is colorful and interesting.Overall, I don't really know what Odd Man Out is saying or what it thinks it's saying, but the characters are round and mostly interesting, which ultimately makes the film worth watching.
January 16, 2012
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