What a drag it is getting Old in M. Night Shyamalan’s spooky new thriller
The Sixth Sense director returns to his supernatural wheelhouse with this sometimes clunky but always creepy horror movie
Film Reviews Old
“They grow up so fast” is a comfy parental platitude with a terrible truth lurking behind it, like a mask pulled over a grinning skull. To say the euphemistic words aloud is to acknowledge the bitter ephemerality of life—the fact that, before you know it, your button-cute kids will be adults with thinning hair and sagging midsections, hurtling towards oblivion just a step behind you. This grim reality looms as large as a blazing sun over Old, the new supernatural thriller written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Set largely on a secluded, anomalous stretch of sand and water where everyone ages at time-lapse speed, the film has flashes of clumsiness that should be familiar to those who have stepped before into the Twilight Zone of its maker’s imagination. But Old is also, in its most intense moments, one of his most genuinely disturbing visions: a horror movie about that most universal of horrors, inescapable mortality.
In his last picture, the somewhat unfairly derided Glass, Shyamalan earnestly, eccentrically meditated on the mythos of comic books. This time, he’s found inspiration in an actual comic: the French graphic novel Sandcastle, from which he borrows a basic plot outline but not a stylistic strategy. (The lush greens and shimmering crystal blues here are a far cry from the stark black-and-white imagery of Frederik Peeters’ artwork.) Source material aside, the film feels quintessentially Shyamalan from the jump, perhaps especially in its hiccups. Old gets off to a bumpy start, with a series of awkwardly expository scenes introducing Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Prisca (Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps), traveling with their children, 11-year-old Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and 6-year-old Trent (Nolan River), to a tropical resort. “You have a beautiful voice,” Mom tells her daughter. And then, in the first instance of ominous foreshadowing: “I can’t wait to hear it when you’re older.”
In the two decades since The Sixth Sense made him a household name, Shyamalan hasn’t much improved at writing dialogue. His characters still speak a stilted language of blunt emotional declaration and corny one-liners, periodically sounding like aliens approximating human interaction. But in Old, the anti-naturalistic clang of the exchanges eventually starts to contribute to the general nightmare vibe of Shyamalan’s scenario. At the manager’s suggestion, the family ends up decamping for a private swim on the other end of the island, joining a small group of fellow guests that includes a racist surgeon (Rufus Sewell), his bombshell wife (Abbey Lee), their grade-school-aged daughter (Kylie Begley), a SoundCloud rapper (Aaron Pierre), and a few others. “Something is going on with time on this beach,” one of them dimly, belatedly deduces, long after the adults start collecting wrinkles and their children start racing towards puberty at world-record speed.
This is about as close to pure allegory as Shyamalan has ever strayed. His wizening beach is nothing less than life itself as a physical space, with every milestone and humiliation of the aging process crammed into a single, dreadfully condensed day. Symbolic though this premise may be, the film devises several visceral, diabolical dilemmas from it: An emergency surgery is complicated by the fact that wounds close up in a matter of seconds, while the onset of dementia is horrifically accelerated, a running gag about a movie a character can’t remember curdling fast into pure hostile confusion. The film’s centerpiece sequence, shot in a queasy long take that whips back and forth across the sand, grotesquely exaggerates the ordinary mindfuck of parents passing down the torch of parenthood. With Old, Shyamalan puts a fantastic spin on the subjective brevity of youth; in this case, it doesn’t just seem like only yesterday that the kids were just kids. But he also generously acknowledges the cognitive dissonance of growing up, too—a child’s own shock at the new “colors,” as Maddox puts it, blooming in their brain.
Visually, it’s a tour de force, even by the standards of a director who finds inventive angles on the action in nearly all his movies, from the grand ones to the silly ones to the grandly silly ones. The camera spins and lurks and looms, enhancing the seasick disorientation. This is the third film Shyamalan has made with Mike Gioulakis, who shot his Split and Glass. Is there a cinematographer today who mines more menace from composition alone? Gioulakis sometimes keeps the threat hovering just below or beyond the frame, teasing us with what’s unseen. He understands his role in guiding (and limiting) an audience’s perspective—a key tenet of Shyamalan’s work, heavy on misdirection and delayed reveals. Old’s illusions are more analog than digital: Though the film deploys variably convincing makeup effects (and a little ghoulish CGI), it relies just as much on good casting. Alex Wolff and Thomasin McKenzie, who play the prematurely advanced versions of the kids, have a slightly ageless quality; they convince as both teenagers and the older people they rapidly become.
In a Shyamalan movie, goofiness is always waiting at the gates, threatening to overthrow the scares. Depending on who you ask, this is a great flaw of his work or part of its idiosyncratic charm. Either way, there are times when Old’s defenses are breached; a bit of body horror involving dislocated bones borders on absurdist slapstick, perhaps on purpose. Less forgivably, the film’s final passage is too tidy, in a plainly Hollywood manner. It lacks the more haunting fatalism of the original comic, which knew that there’s only one sensible way for this story to end. Still, the power of the conceit lingers, somehow reinforced by the impression that Shyamalan, a middle-aged man with three daughters, is exorcising his own fears, though of course they’re ours and indeed everyone else’s, too. Old doesn’t just reconfirm his talent for sending a chill down the collective spine of the moviegoing public. It also proves this wizard of multiplex craftsmanship knows a thing or two about the human condition, even as the basics of human conversation continue to elude him.
186 Comments
Looking forward to it! I feel all Shyamalan’s films are an easy B watch, and that’s alright!
For me, his films average a mid to low B, but that is because I love some (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs) and detest some (Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender). The village and split hit about the average grade for me. I always anticipate his films though, since they can hit such a high note. But if they review poorly, like After Earth, I have no problems skipping them.
I liked Split but really didn’t like Glass for reasons a million other people have expressed. Though it’s not on the shit tier level like the Happening and Avatar for me.
I didn’t even see Avatar, but I really can’t forgive him for Glass. I saw it in theaters, and I was supremely upset. Especially because he claimed to have had a really compelling narrative and design for linking Unbreakable and Split, and had ambitions of making an Unbreakable sequel back when that film was first released. But Glass was such an utter disappointment that I really can’t bring myself to go to a theater for a film of his again.
Avatar was just nonsense. I don’t remember a whole lot from the cartoon since I watched it as a kid and haven’t since, but the movie was just so blah!Glass was yeah, really bad and underwhelming. I wanted to see more of the actual heroes and not that contrived nonsense with that shadow gov group.
Yeah, I didn’t see Avatar because it looked awful (I haven’t seen the cartoon yet, but may check it out sometime) and I heard bad things anyway. I don’t think I’d enjoy it even as a B-movie thing.Same about Glass, too. I really didn’t enjoy the psycho ward stuff – which was the entire movie, essentially. The shadow government group thing that was not at all referenced or a part of the two movies in the series before that was a pretty dumb idea, I think. I do wonder if he originally planned to go in a different direction with it before the big superhero craze, but the fact that that is what he landed on on where to take the story still confuses and disappoints me.
I watched the movie before watching the cartoon and the movie was fine to me. There was nothing Shyamalan-y about it, a rather straight-forward attempt to condense a long show into a single movie. If you feel like it, watch the movie, then watch the show. You can also just skip watching the movie and just watch the show.
I don’t think I’d enjoy it even as a B-movie thing.You really can’t, primarily because it’s so. fucking. boring. It’s not funny bad, it’s just boring and awful. For comparison, here’s earthbending in the series. Bending is essentially elemental kung-fu:Here’s a supposed rebellion where said kung fu elemental bending takes 90 minutes with almost no choreography to throw a single rock:
Watch the series, it’s great and most importantly, it coasts. It’s 3 seasons and it has a great sense of forward momentum.
I think Unbreakable is absolutely tremendous…until that godawful final scene that seems tacked on by another director. The entire movie is perfectly controlled, then he just goes crazy and farts on it at the end.
where david confronts elijah in the comic book shop?
It’s so bad, but I love how 50s sci-fi B-movie The Happening is. So bad it’s good.
The Happening is enjoyable and for me is a solid B, I was never able to anticipate the dialogue lol.
yeah, I’ve found since early on that people don’t “get that” about the movie…I don’t think audiences are stupid, I just think the B-movie idea was nailed as hard as it could have been…like the movie had an obvious sense of humor about itself. When Jeremy Strong says “holy cheese & crackers!”, that’s when it clicked for me. Not everybody’s cup of tea, hence “awful”, but I’d fight it wasn’t stupid.
Signs is one of those movies that I can see people really like, but I can’t see how. God’s plan makes an entire species of sapient beings and somehow induces them (was it their religion?) to cross light-years to invade a planet literally mostly covered in poison (killing lots of people on both planets) for the sole purpose of getting one specific ex-preacher to return to the faith that he lost because God actually killed his wife. It’s terrifying, but not the way the film intends.
The Village is the worst experience I’ve had in a movie theater. That includes a stranger barely missing my shoes as they vomited all over the floor during Rogue One.When The Village came to its big “reveal”, I instinctively shouted “You’ve GOT to be fucking KIDDING me!” at the screen before walking out. To this day, I’m annoyed that no one followed me out.
Avatar is unwatchable. I’ll never forgive him for trashing such a great show.
Yeah, but this is an AA Dowd B, so it’s more like an A+++++++++++++++.
I feel all Shyamalan’s films are an easy B watchLady in the Water is, like, the definition of an F. The kind where you also call the parents and suggest them to have their son see a therapist asap.Here’s my experience with Shyamalan movies.Praying with Anger and Wide Awake. Didn’t see them, nobody did.The Sixth Sense. I wasn’t particularly blown away at the time. I rewatched it recently and realized the famous twist doesn’t even really matter. The story is about Haley Joel Osment making peace with his powers. What Bruce Willis was is pretty much irrelevant (and on rewatch, it looks heavily telegraphed that something is not right with him. It’s not just that his wife doesn’t talk to hin, she doesn’t even acknowledge his presence).Unbreakable. On rewatch, I hated that Shyamalan pontificates a lot about comic books yet doesn’t seem to really know what he’s talking about. It’s kind of a theme with his cinema. “Shyamalan doesn’t know much about something and explains it to you.” Unbrekable is also very slow-paced, filled with endless shots of Bruce Willis looking sad, and yet the ending is rushed.Signs. This had a lot of good tension all the way through, but the twist is probably his stupidest. “Shyamalan doesn’t know much about alien invasions and explains them to you”.The Village. This is my favorite film of his. And yeah, it has the most consequential twist, but while its nature was maybe surprising, the fact that a twist was coming regarding the creatures was evident since the get-go. But the atmosphere is perfect, the world-building is neat and Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix and William Hurt are just great in their roles.Lady in the Water. This was just asinine. The entire thing was about Shyamalan framing himself as a misunderstood prophet/martyr that’s going to save the world. I felt bad for Bryce Dallas Howard and Paul Giamatti.The Happening. “Shyamalan doesn’t know much about global warming and explains it to you”. The scene where the character run away from the wind rivals the one from The Day After Tomorrow when they run away from the cold.
The Last Airbender. Couldn’t watch this one, and I don’t even feel strongly about the original show. I believe many rank it among the worst films ever made. “Shyamalan doesn’t know much about the animated show Avatar and explains it to you”.After Earth. Skipped this one, too. I think the whole project could be summed up “Will Smith tries to make his son happen”.The Visit. This is considered his return to form. It wasn’t bad, but I watched it years later (I kind of had written Shyamalan off entirely by this point), and was expecting more. It’s okay. A welcome stylistic change of scenery, too.Split. I liked it, might be my second favorite of his filmography. Although it kind of is “Shyamalan doesn’t know much about mental illness and explains it to you.”Glass. Not a good follow-up. The fact that the film spends two entire acts trying to convince us that everything we know as true from Unbreakable and Split wasn’t actually true, when we know for a fact it’s true, and then it just goes, “Just kidding, it was all true”, might be one of the worst wastes of time of his cinema. There’s also a final rant where Shyamalan, once again, wants to teach us the secrets of life. This is when I knew the renewed success had reignited the man’s ego.
Just got back from the theater and I can’t believe this flaming garbage heap was able to get a solid B from the famously grade-stingy A.A. Dowd. This thing is The Happening-level bad.
I just watched this and I enjoyed the bulk of the film. Hated the ending tho. Can we stop having evil pharmaceutical companies as villains in films? Lets stop giving anti-vaxxers this kind of fuel.
“wizening beach” <- fantastic
You lost me on “Unfairly derided Glass”. That film was fairly derided.
It was a film that had severe filmmaking technical issues, character compromises for budget reasons that were more like something from a straight to video movie, and a resolution which seemed to completely misunderstand the desires of the vast majority of the viewing audience.
If you could get over those things, that’s fine. Everyone has their own tastes. But the derision was completely fair and rational.
To be fair, I haven’t seen Glass so it may very well be a piece of shit, but “the desires of the vast majority of the viewing audience” aren’t relevant. That’s how we get fanboy entitlement and blockbusters focus-grouped to within an inch of their lives. As long as M Night’s desires were fulfilled, then that’s fine.
(then obviously the audience reaction, critical reaction and box office decides whether he gets to try to fulfil his desires again.)
You may be right generally speaking, but if you see Glass you will understand that criticism much better.
Ew don’t suggest someone watch Glass. That’s just mean.
“If you touch your hand to a hot stove, you will learn why it’s a bad idea” is not actually a suggestion to touch your hand to a hot stove.
If “The vast majority of the viewing audience” doesn’t like an ending, then it’s fair for them to deride it. It’s amazing how it’s become so ok to say things like “fanboy entitlement” which are so extremely dismissive of the feelings of others, that what people want is incorrect. You better stop being entitled to Chocolate Ice Cream because the new artists at the Ice Cream company doesn’t want to make it. Doesn’t it bother you that you have to find what has become a slur, “fanboy”, to talk about those you disagree with? Using the word implies a tremendous amount about others. If an artist wants to make an ending that makes the audience mad, they are entitled to do so as much as the audience is entitled to tell them they did not like it and cease to purchase the product.I believe when you dismiss the audience, you carry the water for bad decision making of an artist because of some authorial intent. In the same way someone carries the water for the preacher of their church making a bad decision because “religion”. A movie like “Glass” was not a piece of high art with a challenging end. The bad decision at the end was going down a rabbit hole designed to make more spinoffs without paying the expensive actors anymore.
And whatever you’re thinking, this isn’t just some random discussion about devoted modern “fanboys” here. The audience who I talked to that was most frustrated was often people who wouldn’t know what a fanboy was. In fact, it’s the most devoted that are willing to ignore the flaws.
The devotion that Shyamalan faced early on which led him down a path of bad movies. Check out “The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale and Lost” to read what happens when an artist can’t accept outside criticism.
This just sounds like you whining that somebody accused you of fanboy entitlement lol get over yourself.
Do you like the Snyder Cut? Cuz that is the very definition of fanboy entitlement.
I also found myself choking on “unfairly derided.” The derision was so very, very fair.I was excited by the tag scene of “Split,” which pointed the way to the “Unbreakable” sequel I never knew I wanted. Unfortunately, it wrote checks that “Glass” couldn’t afford to cash.Instead of paying off the deferred Dunn/Glass confrontation that “Unbreakable” consigned to its end-of-film text, “Glass” swerved hard into an unsatisfying info-dump about an organization whose existence had not been so much as hinted at in the previous films.
The trailer for this looks terrible to me, and I don’t think I can trust Shyamalan again after sitting through the absolute shitfest that was Glass. It’s a shame, because I really loved Sixth Sense, but feel like Shyamalan really doesn’t understand what made that movie so successful – not just a good twist, but strong acting and writing, really well done emotional beats (e.g., the scene between Collette and Osmont in the car discussing the grandmother’s broach, I think, was very affecting), etc. Instead, he seems to have learned some ‘wrong’ lessons from some of his successes, and that’s a shame.This movie looks like another entry in the “look for the twist!” line with vapid characters and such – at least from the trailers.
One possibility is not a matter of “lessons” being learned, but instead that making a movie as good as the Sixth Sense is harder than it seems, even for the director of the Sixth Sense.
Of course I don’t imagine making a Sixth Sense-quality film is easy. That said, he clearly has talent because his direction for much of his projects is fairly high quality. His films largely got worse as they came out- Unbreakable was quite good, Signs was a little less good, but each of these were pretty competently directed, with some script contrivances (e.g., Signs, and the cups of water) and silliness, but largely evidencing his talent as a director. But then some of his later films – The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening – are just considerably worse in quality, often because he seems to be prioritizing the twist over the character and story beats. For instance, was the loss of drama and intrigue in The Village really worth the twist? (You could argue that the twist made the story better, of course, but I think many people didn’t care very much for The Village because the twist sacrifices the quality of the story that preceded the twist).I know it’s tacky to criticize Shyamalan for only caring about twists these days, but it’s hard for me to shake that criticism because it seems like he’s really good at photography, really good at setting and staging, can do action and drama, but holistically, his films mostly seem built around plot machinations working to surprise the audience moreso than making them feel anything else.
I don’t think the story of The Village would exist without the twist. It’s rather foundational to it.
Yeah, if you change the central feature of a story, it’s a different story.If you change a central aspect of a shitty movie, it has the possibility of becoming a better movie (or not).But if an audience goes in expecting an intense horror movie with monsters in an old timey village, and what the audience gets is not only not that but something they don’t find particularly interesting or worthwhile or at least beneficial enough to offset any disappointment by the bait and switch, then there could be audience resentment. Yes, the movie would be different without the twist. But, also, some of his movies maybe could or should have been conceived and constructed differently that would have made them more enjoyable in the first place.If you liked The Village or the twist, that’s fine – I didn’t hate the movie. But, my point still stands that I, and many others, felt like the movie was almost dragged down by its twist, because it seemed more invested in the carpet-pulling-under-the-feet of the audience than it did in the story that seemed promised at the start of the film.
But what if the twist was…there is no twist? I mean, you are watching The Village for the first time. You know it’s an M. Night movie. You are thinking “Okay, maybe this is on another planet? Maybe it’s a VR simulation? Maybe it’s after a nuclear war?” Actually having the village be in a historical setting would blow people’s minds.
Oh, man. Now that I think about it, Old’s real twist is Shyamalan twisting the knife in Simon and Schuster…SPOILERS BELOW—-…who accused him of plagiarizing the YA novel Running Out of Time when The Village came out because they had the same basic plot/set-up.To 10-year-old me’s supreme irritation, after the protagonist finds out she’s really living in the 21st century, she finds out the town is actually some sort of fucked-up science/pharmaceutical experiment (which is the twist in Old). So Shyamalan has now arguably stolen both of the book’s twists.
Disagree! The movie could absolutely have been a period puritan/monster horror and been just fine if done well.
The twist in Signs is just stupid. If those aliens are allergic or die from exposure to water why land on a planet that is over 70% covered in the shit that’ll kill you. You’d at least think they’d have made some sort of waterproof space suits.
this movie is a waste of time and money. wait until you can watch it for free
hahahaha “waste of time” good comment synergy. I also totally just watched it for free.
Skip it. He makes the first mistake of filmmaking: Respect the audience.
Still not going to theaters. But looking forward to eventually seeing this.
This time, he’s found inspiration in an actual comic: the French graphic novel Sandcastle, from which he borrows a basic plot outline but not a stylistic strategy. I guess that’s good since, having read Sandcastle dear god is that story just depressing.SPOILERS FOR THE SOURCE MATERIAL INCOMING………..In the comic everyone dies of old age and the comic ends with the toddler pregnant and in the body of a 20-year old alone on the beach who will also inevitably die.
Why post this at all?
Nah, the toddler ages into a teen, has a kid, who after falling asleep with her new family, wakes up alone on the beach, in her 20s and will inevitably die alone. Important distinction.
Yeah, that is better
Good…god…
This is a movie where everyone is actively HOPING there’s a classic Shyamalan bullshit twist because the original ending sucks.
Like what was the point? Life sucks and than you die? I don’t mean I want an answer necessarily for why they’re aging rapidly but reading about a bunch of characters rapidly aging and than dying feels like emotionally draining and unsatisfying. The characters didn’t have an arc, they just died.Shyamalan needs to give this story a point otherwise it’s basically just a Twilight Zone episode stretched out to 90 minutes.
I agree. A bleak ending where everyone just dies is pointless. Someone has to survive, however changed they may be, for the story to have meaning, in my opinion.
there is no point. the “twist” is that the curtain is pulled back and Oz is revealed to be a team of medical researchers who murder people in the name of furthering medical science
Its kind of a goofy Twilight Zone ending. Not terrible but dropped the movie down from a 4/5 to a 3.5/5 for me.
That book was sooo bleak, and also so very racist (I mean, the characters) lovely colours though
Beautiful plumage!
It’s actually just one big ad for Popcorn Shirts.
The Twist?
He was Cindy Crawford the whole time!
The twist is that Shyamalan thought that Mid-size Sedan wasn’t too ridiculous of a name for a rapper.
Given rappers’ names, I didn’t think it was so ridiculous. I’m actually burning brain cells trying to figure out what the ‘dad joke of a rap name’ might mean. Play on ‘large’, ‘huge’, ‘biggie’? “Here’s the newest MC comin’ up from the streets: Compact!”
Would making some names up and playing “Is It A Real Rap Name”? be fun?
Maybe it’s something addressed in the movie, but do they have properly sized clothes as they age?
They’re a family of ‘90s-throwback hiphop heads who preferred oversized clothing, so even as they speed aged their 8-ball jackets still fit all right.
JNCO paid handsomely for this product placement.
It is discussed and responded to in the film, though I recently read a review from someone who somehow missed that.
The teen son is a fledgling David Byrne imitator, so he’s covered.
yes. the children wear their parents clothes.
I still can’t believe I’ll be 60 soon. Sixty!The goggles – they do nothing!
You should have spent less time on that haunted beach!
I hear you. I just turned 50. I used to be with it….
I’m 55. For some reason, when I turned 54 I was bothered, but in general, nah.
Oh, I’m 35 and have never been with it. That’s why I use phrases like with it.
Y’all are puppies!!!
Superb yet discomfiting username/comment synergy.
Up and adtem!
When the first trailer for this hit I was curious and got Sandcastle and OH MY GOD it was depressing and frequently disturbing…and I thought, no way they’ve made *this* into a film. Who would it satisfy?Now I’m curious again, and will eventually watch this, even having given up on Night a few films back.
Yea, I did the same. It’s a bleak and depressing read.
I heard that Shyamalan read Sandcastle and thought “I need to make an ending for this” what a smug asshole.
I liked the film but I think it’s always going to have a pretty divided response (unlike The Village, which found its audience over the years). I left the theater with a real “who was that for?” feeling
I enjoyed it right up until the pharmaceutical reveal. I actually didn’t need an explanation and it harmed my enjoyment of the film.
The twist is that M Night was thinking to himself “Gee, those LOST writers seem to know how to write stories with satisfying twists. Get me a script about a mysterious island!” and just filmed the first thing that landed on his desk.
The twist is that M Night was thinking to himself “Gee, those LOST writers seem to know how to write stories with satisfying twists. Get me a script about a mysterious island!” and just filmed the first thing that landed on his desk.
Someone please answer this for me: Why don’t they just leave the beach?
Tune in to find out!
Did you watch the trailer? I haven’t seen it or read the graphic novel, but the implication from the trailer is that the further they get from the beach the more lightheaded they get until they pass out
Honestly I found the trailer so depressing I don’t remember every moment. Thanks for telling me.
They get the vapors because they’re hoity-toity. LOL!
I didn’t watch the trailer
From the trailer, it looks like you get to and from beach by going through a cave, and people who’ve tried to go back through it lose consciousness. That’s why the trailer shows someone (Thomasin McKenzie?) trying to climb the rocks, but it looked like she was about to lose consciousness, too. What a pickle!
Thomasin McKenzie does not try to climb any rocks here. Although I think her character from Leave No Trace could have managed it.
I wonder if anyone tries swimming along the coast to somewhere inland that’s not that particular haunted beach full of dying old fogies, but maybe some other beach.
That possibility is discussed.
That’s Eliza Scanlen climbing the rocks
This is how Florida works
What a twist!
Now I hope that George Ryan does a “Pitch Meeting” for this movie on Screen Rant. Here’s his pitch for Glass.
The water is REALLY clear and just the perfect temperature.
The answer they give in the film is that the beach is like the deep sea and trying to leave the beach instantly will leave you suffering from severe decompression.
or, get out of the house
The twist is that they could have left the beach at any time!
Because the beach is doughnut shaped and therefore seems infinite though it has finite mass.
If it anything like the comic, you must simply accept it is tried, and they cannot.
And cut short their vacations??!!
Where but a Shyamalan flick would any parent anywhere ever say to their child “You have a beautiful voice, I can’t wait to hear it when you’re older.”?
BECAUSE FORESHADOWING AND NOTHING ELSE!!!
That is 7 levels of pure cringe!
You know what a dime bag of pure cringe goes for these days?
By the end of the movie, she sounds like Louis Armstrong.
What a twist!
because he has this very odd idea of what constitutes normal dialogue, like some sort of weird guy whose never really spent time with any other people.
I bet he could write perfect dialogue for Zuckerberg.
I’m creeped out enough by the trailer where the little girl is suddenly pregnant. I don’t know if he isn’t sure how babies are made or if the movie is just that weird but this will be a hard pass.
He is aware, since he has kids of his own, and the movie is that weird, though it doesn’t dwell on that bit.
Did she just spontaneously become pregnant, without having sex with anyone?
Not spontaneously.
We know another tale where someone was born in a dry desert place after an immaculate conception , grew to be a man with followers , was betrayed by one of his closest friends , and came back from the dead in a new glorious form to reign over all and be adored by millions since. I speak of course of the legend of Darth Vader.
Maybe she’s Catholic
No, she and the other also newly age approriate child-adult fucked at some point.
The twist is that M Night has paid actors with dwarfism pretending to be his children, because he in fact does NOT know where children come from!
Yeah, puberty, totally not a real thing. EYEROLL
The CLIT is REAL!
ew!
I just saw it. Those scenes were creepy especially when you know the two girls are mentally a child and a pre-teen in one scene, but M. Night proceeds to directs a lot of shots of their asses in bikini bottoms when they’re biologically/physically older.
I didn’t think there were that many creep shots. Shyamalan films generally aren’t into ogling.
There’s a pointless scene of a naked actress in this movie. It’s a shit show. So disappointed.
I particularly liked when the mom had her suddenly-teenage daughter change out of her more modest swimsuit into a small bikini? To better show off her breasts?
I’m willing to give MNS a pass here. Those shots didn’t feel leering or exploitative to me; I think we were meant to feel uncomfortable.What bothered me the most, however, were the *enormous* granny panties the daughter wore for the rest of the film.
Ohhhh I was wondering what it was that bothered me while watching it and that’s what it was I just couldn’t put my finger on it. Thank you.
“You have a beautiful uterus. I can’t wait to see it when it’s a little older …WHOA…!…hey, it is!”
Spoiler Alert:There’s a scene where someone is walking on the beach, steps in a hole and hurts their ankle. What a twist!
Then they find a boom box that plays just one song. It’s the twist!
The drummer for that song is none other than The Alarm’s Nigel Twist!(ok, that was a bit of a stretch)
Then they go out for soft serve! And all they have is…Vanilla! There’s no twist!
And when he looks behind him there’s only one set of footprints!
The dialog in The Visit was awesome and I was surprised to see he’s credited as the writer. In general, his “smaller” movies (fewer locations, characters) seem to work better; I’m actually looking forward to this.
This looks really interesting, but a body horror movie about rapid aging pretty much sounds like my worst nightmare, so instead of watching this in theaters, I’ll probably just end up half-watching random clips on YouTube through my fingers.
The second episode of Fringe had that kind of scene, and yeah. Ick.
I have no interest in the story, the lesson, the twist; I’m just morbidly thinking “whoa, they all get old fast, how do they do that”, “what happens to their clothes?”, “ew! A little girl gets pregnant? Did she have sex? Ew!” That can’t be a good enough reason for a movie.
Throughout it I was wondering why so many actors sounded so awkward, and at first I thought that the mom might have less experience acting in English than Bernal. But then I saw it was the same actress from Phantom Thread, and she wasn’t nearly so awkward there. It was also striking how much more plausible the later version of the son sounds delivering lines too young for himself than the absurdly precocious earliest version of him.
I actually thought something was wrong with my audio that maybe some of the dialogue had been cut from the audio or added to the audio cuz it honestly didnt sound like real people chatting.
I realize it’s all the rage to be a “writer/director” and not just a director etc. but Shyamalan has a good eye for framing shots, I’d appreciate him a lot more under a different writer.
He really should get someone to punch up his dialogue.
The only movie he made post-”Unbreakable” that really got me was “The Visit,” which is a) underappreciated (though no masterpiece) b) maybe the only movie he made that has scared me and c) thematically connected to this in a minor way. I could see giving this one a chance, since that one seemed to work for him. But the premise doesn’t really draw me in.
Devil wasn’t too bad, never got the huge media coverage most of his other films did.
That’s likely because he only produced Devil and didn’t direct it?
Gizmodo’s highly positive review – you have my curiosity.
AVClub’s highly positive review – now you have my attention.
Definitely gonna watch this. But also…more Servant, please!
Its so damn weird to see Jonathan Watson’s face on a site like this. I’m used to seeing him in stuff like Only an Excuse? which would never be covered on here.
Seconded. Fucking good show
I barely understand what is happening and I love it.
“…before you know it, your button-cute kids will be adults …hurtling towards oblivion just a step behind you.”Nice, A.A.
Harsh, but true.
Yeah, some kids are just fugly.
“The somewhat unfairly derided Glass.”Really? A mud puddle. A FREAKIN’ MUD PUDDLE!
Unimaginable haughtiness has to come with inscrutable appreciation of middling things. It’s the AV Club critic psychological profile.
after reading a couple of reviews & some discussions, i feel like i know the whole story so the “twists” will be completely lost on me. any reason i should see it anyway?
It’s not as twist-reliant as some of his other movies, but I don’t think seeing it for the first time is as good as the second viewing of The Sixth Sense though.
The twist old Old is the most unnecessary thing. There’s a point near the end right before the twist where you can (and should) just turn it off. I wish I could go back in time.
The twist in this movie could have been that they are clones in an experiment. But alas no.
And that Sudious was the one manipulating the war the whole time!
The twist in this film could have been anything. But for some reason Shymalan landed on an anti-vaxxer rhetoric twist.
Okay first the kid in The Visit, and now this. “Kids like rap! LOL!” I don’t get it.
“They grow up so fast” is a comfy parental platitude with a terrible truth lurking behind it, like a mask pulled over a grinning skull. To say the euphemistic words aloud is to acknowledge the bitter ephemerality of life—the fact that, before you know it, your button-cute kids will be adults with thinning hair and sagging midsections, hurtling towards oblivion just a step behind you. I’m gonna lean toward the benefit of the doubt and assume the context for this is a pretty good movie and a very good graphic novel. Because on its own, this is really childish existentialism. Watching kids grow up, learn, mature, and work to achieve their potential is one of life’s great joys. Yes, it’s tempered by a lot of hard realities, but so is anything worthwhile.
I 100,000% agree with this, and enjoy the company of my children exponentially more than when they were babies. But the truth of life is always there in the shadows. My parents have (at best) 2 decades left on this planet, I’ll join them a few decades after, and then it’ll be their turn.
Except for those smug assholes in the generation where they crack immortality! Screw those guys!
Yeah, I mean, people die. I’ll be lucky if I have 15 years left with my parents and then, surreally, I’ll be pushing 60. But there’s an appreciation of the moment that becomes all the more important, and focusing on the good stuff is a huge part of that. I never experience “they grow up so fast” as a superficial platitude covering something horrible, more a bittersweet moment of appreciation. I hate to be You-Wouldn’t-Understand-If-You-Don’t-Have Kids Guy, but there’s an element of that. I don’t know if Dowd has kids or not though.
You guys are seriously getting tied up in your panties.
As cute as my son was as a baby, if I had to go back to his infant months, it wouldn’t be the very early ones. The vulnerability, the erratic sleep schedule and the whole nursing situation could be very overwhelming at times (I do miss the cuddling. The first moments in particular of bonding with my newborn in my arms will always be a sweet memory.)I have to agree. Typical frustrations aside, I really enjoy the kinds of conversations and activities I can have/do with with my son now that he’s 5 and a half.
Re-watched The Village for the first time in years last night. Absolutely loved it. I’ve also liked the last three Shyamalan films. And with Old, it looks like M. Night’s here to stay, baby!!
It lacks the more haunting fatalism of the original comic, which knew that there’s only one sensible way for this story to end.Also check out 2020’s Relic if you’re into horror films about aging. The ending of that film is a belly punch that I’ve been massaging for about a year.
If I sat through this for 2 hours with no payoff at the end to explain what was going on, I would throw mine and everyone else’s shoes in the theater at the screen.
There is an explanation, although not necessarily a very good one.
SPOILERI could have done without the twist. It actually kinda bothered me that the two kids-now-adults just like…. escape? I don’t know if life is a happy ending here I’d sleep a bit easier knowing they died. Like…. what is their life supposed to be now? They are mentally six years old walking around as biological adults. That sounds like a recipe for suicide. How do you live like that and reconcile with that? That’s fucked up.
“The somewhat unfairly derided Glass?”
If anything, Glass hasn’t been derided enough. Mnight owes me six bucks for that heinously awful movie.
Wow. here’s A.A. with another B grade for a movie that at best deserves a C- grade. The first twenty minutes are interesting and the build up of the tension is done well. Then it gets boring as shit and drags on for seemingly forever. The twist is dumb and isn’t really a surprise given that clues are blatantly provided several times. The stand out is Rufus Sewell who played his doctor asshole character very well.
I didn’t feel that the ending was meant to be a “twist.” It’s not a “this changes everything” revelation. As you suggest, the clues are all there.My own issue with the ending is that it over-explains things, when a bit of ambiguity would’ve helped paper over the gaps in story logic. “Us” had the same problem; it told us so much about the nature of the Tethered that it invited the audience to pick nits and ask questions like “what do the rabbits eat?” and “was there a sale on scissors?” Similarly, “Old” fills in so much of the big picture that a viewer can say “that’s not how any of this works!”
Twenty dollars worth of rebar would’ve saved millions in patents!
Rufus Sewell is always great. But I don’t even bother watching shyamalans movies anymore. Not worth my time.
He is always great, but even his presence couldn’t make me finish Season 4 of The Man In The High Castle. Once I realized they had just killed off another character offscreen between Seasons 3 and 4 I no longer had any investment in that show.
The twist is that Data realizes they can use the transporter to reverse the changes in DNA caused by the beach and everybody is happy and forgets about the whole thing a week later when Riker finds himself acting as first officer of a Klingon starship.
I thought the twist was that grown-up Molly O’Brien, who would not be swapped out for little-girl Molly O’Brien on ethical grounds, swaps herself out and hilariously fades from existence
I had a nightmare like this once. Only time wasn’t the killer but it was some sort of eldritch abomination. Basically there’s a summer camp which is perfect but if you go for a swim you instantly die of a heart attack. Then it turns out that the paradise island/jungle is a lotus eater machine and if you look back you’ll see the real horrors and then you’ll die.
…and there was no social security or medicare on the beach!
Wooooooo!
At this point, I feel like no twist is the twist right?
The fact that Shyamalan himself had to explain the premise in one of the primary trailers doesn’t exude a lot of confidence in the plot. After filling in the gaps, you just saved me a $12 bucket of popcorn and two hours of Vicky Krieps accent. The only twist left: the Shyamalan cameo.
Overall the film is a decent B-/C+ but there were a few things I found horrifically distracting.
The name Midsize Sedan for the Soundcloud rapper completely deflates the character’s gravitas at the expense of a few mildly racist jokes. The way the character is played and Aaron Pierre’s striking appearance doesn’t fit with the ludicrous name which does nothing for the movie but give the audience a reason to not take a black character seriously.
Also, the exposition scene with all of the characters explaining what was happening on the island was tedious and unnecessary. Shyamalan has never trusted his audience and has always thought we needed to be spoon fed but this sequence was eye rolling. Lastly, I also think that the movie would have been more effective being rated R. Ratcheting up the gore and the tension would have given this a harder and scarier edge rather (think Shyamalan’s Midsommer) than just being chalked up to a 106 minute Twilight Zone episode.
Shyamalan is not just good, he’s masterful with dramatic elements, especially mood and tension. He’s an astonishingly talented filmmaker. He’s just no writer. Sixth Sense was too successful for his own good. Got him a blank check that might have been premature. Since his hot start, his movies are no better than a 50-50 proposition, and he’s way too talented for that. I really wish he was little more willing to collaborate.
Movie was great.
Possible Spoilers:
I thought for sure the food or something involved with the food was a clue how they could survive.
I was looking forward to this because the premise is great, but the movie was really bad. Shyamalan is really hit or miss but this was a major miss for me. Hardly explored the themes at all, and the writing was so poor and condescending, over-explaining the simplest things to the audience. If you view it as a comedy instead, it’s more enjoyable, but what a missed opportunity.
Visiting from the future. Shyamalan’s film “Knock At the Cabin” just came out. It prompted me to finally watch “Old”. Something I can say about both of these films: Shymalan sure likes to defang his source material by slapping shitty generic endings on them hey?