Carol Reed sure knew how to stylize these kinds of movies, didn't he? Much like The Third Man, Odd Man Out is heavy on dark tones, tactile settings, and political anxieties, with a lot of shadowy figures in trench-coats running down backlit alleys (maybe my single favourite noir trope). So, at least texturally, this one's for me.
Structurally, I'm not so sure. I mean, I like that the movie spends the first half-hour presenting itself as a straightforward heist thriller only to shuffle around to different perspectives and genres as it goes along, but I think my problem is that I'm not always interested in these new perspectives. For every one that works, there's probably two that feel like unnecessary padding. And it doesn't help that the pacing slows down considerably once the crime stuff is out of the way.
Still, I guess it all comes together pretty well, both because it turns this character's incapacitated state into something of a journey and because this journey slowly paints a distinct portrait of the entire community. And, again, even when I wasn't super invested in the story, I was always captivated by the vivid moods and compositions.
Plus, it's nice to see a little blood in something this old. Gives the movie an added edge.
Grade: B+
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