Take dystopian science fiction, spike it with musical numbers, and add a delayed pinch of satire – you just whipped up a glass of Geremy Jasper’s O’Dessa. The film is punchy and boasts confidence and attitude and, yet, still doesn’t feel like it completely commits to its concepts. Jasper condenses, what feels like, a self-penned series into a single movie. But just like what usually happens with trilogies, a strong start is followed by a weak finish.

Sadie Sink, the surprise breakout star of Netflix’s Stranger Things and the scene-stealing anarchist in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, plays the titular farm girl who deems herself “a rambler” as she wanders the countryside, with her late father’s guitar, in search of herself. On her travels, her instrument is stolen and her attempt to rescue it leads her to a post-apocalyptic, industrial wasteland called Satylite City. O’Dessa meets a collection of colourful characters, including a late-night performer named Euri (Kelvin Harrison Jr. of Luce and Cyrano) and a thug named Neon Dion (an almost unrecognizable Regina Hall). O’Dessa also learns about Plutonovich (The White Lotus Emmy-award winner Murray Bartlett), Satylite City’s dictator who hosts a television program meant to entertain and threaten viewers featuring segments of torture and death towards the people Plutonovich imprisons.

O’Dessa uses complicated methods to tell an otherwise straightforward story. Aside from mostly succeeding with its stylistic and storytelling attempts, this type of filmmaking issues an admirable appeal towards the production; a suggestion that the O’Dessa team wanted to frequently challenge themselves. Jasper, who previously wrote and directed the film festival hit Patti Cake$, initially knows how to hook audiences with great tunes and distinct set pieces. But, the undertaking of handling so many different ideas enables O’Dessa to downshift into a two-dimensional territory as the film chugs along. While this change cuts the writer/director a break, the ease makes the film less interesting. Early scenes of O’Dessa reclaiming her independence are more powerful and engaging than hokey sequences on Plutonovich’s arbitrary game show.

O’Dessa’s fun is usually matched with contrasting lulls. Describing the film as uneven shouldn’t be a knock towards its ambition, but rather a criticism towards its range.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie