Old review

OLD:

A RETURN TO FORM FOR DIRECTOR, M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN…BUT NOT IN THE WAY YOU’RE THINKING!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Something strange is happening on this island in M. Night Shyamalan’s Old

 

            In the tradition of truly entertaining “mess-terpieces” such as Lady in the Water and The Happening, director, M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Eastrail 177 Trilogy, Signs) returns to his completely bonkers and ridiculously entertaining ways after enjoying some moderate success again thanks to The Visit, Split, and Glass in Old, Shyamalan’s latest “thriller”. The film is based on a graphic novel known as Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Fredrik Peeters, I’ve never read the graphic novel before, but I have to say after seeing this movie, if it’s a faithful adaptation of it then mail me a copy right now, because this movie is insane. 

            Conceptually, this is not a bad idea, a group of people stuck on an island and they’re mysteriously aging rapidly, it could be a genuinely suspenseful and even thought-provoking story. But, thanks to Shyamalan’s manic direction, it becomes a chaotic, strange, and downright hilarious experience that follows in the footsteps of other so bad it’s good Shyamalan films. 

            Why is it his funniest film since The Happening you may ask? Well, much like that movie, Old is a film that gets everything, entirely wrong! The acting is wrong (Aside from a few actors who read this awkward Shyamalan script okay), the dialogue is wrong, the scares are wrong, so many aspects of this movie that don’t work, and yet they work perfectly, literally I was laughing so hard my face started to hurt!

            The film follows a family consisting of Guy Cappa (Gael García Bernal-Bad Education, Babel, Wasp Network), his wife, Prisca (Vicky Krieps-Hanna, Phantom Thread, The Girl in the Spider’s Web), and their children, Trent and Maddox, who travel to a tropical resort for a vacation. However, what starts off as fun in the sun quickly turns into a nightmare when they find themselves stranded on an island alongside other poor souls like schizophrenia-battling doctor, Charles (Rufus Sewell-Dark City, Judy, The Father), his wife, Chrystal (Abbey Lee-Mad Max: Fury Road, The Neon Demon, The Dark Tower), their daughter, Kara, nurse, Jarin Carmichael (Ken Leung-Saw, X-Men 3: The Last Stand, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), and his wife, Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird-A Private War, Hard Sun, The Personal History of David Copperfield) and discover that they are aging rapidly. 

            With literally seconds to lose, these families must figure out a way off the island before they become old and die…or worse, go completely insane and murder each other, and of course, crack the inevitable case of the Shyamalan twist (Which I will not speak about right now!) while doing so. 

            The film also stars Alex Wolff (Patriots Day, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle/The Next Level, Hereditary) and Emun Elliott (Black Death, Prometheus, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Trent, Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace, Jojo Rabbit, True History of the Kelly Gang) and Embeth Davidtz (Army of Darkness, Schindler’s List, Mad Men) as Maddox, Eliza Scanlen (Home and Away, Sharp Objects, Little Women (2019)) as Kara, Aaron Pierre (Krypton, The Underground Railroad) as Mid-Sized Sedan, and Kathleen Chalfant (Kinsey, Duplicity, Hereditary) as Agnes. 

            Overall, Old offers another masterpiece of madness that caps off Shyamalan’s unofficial “Shyamalan’s Lost His F*cking Mind” trilogy that fails as a genuine scary movie, but more than succeeds as a bonkers and uproarious unintentional comedy. It’s strange, because when Shyamalan is good, he’s really good, but when he’s bad the results can be so entertaining and strange that you just can’t help but laugh at it, not to mention it’s inspiring to see a director go all out on a film and throw everything he/she can into it even if it doesn’t always pay off in the end, Shyamalan’s got mad passion even when he’s making crap and I respect that about him. 

            All the staples of a crazy, funny, bad Shyamalan movie are here, from the hokey acting to the awkward script and Shyamalan’s bizarre decisions. One scene in particular had me laughing hysterically in the theater (To the point where I was worried, I’d have to be thrown out!) where everyone is yelling and arguing at each other while trying to remove a tumor that’s killing the protagonist kids’ mother and Sewell’s character is just obsessing over a Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando movie, he also brings the movie up at a couple more random times in the film…I guess he’s supposed to be the 2021 version of the hot dog guy from The Happening. 

            I started to kind of check out during the final act, while it does still have some funny Shyamalan moments, they aren’t quite as frequent as in the rest of the film. It wasn’t to the point where I got bored by it, so already this is a step up over Snake Eyes. 

            I don’t think this review does the movie justice, my advice is to just go watch the movie yourself, especially if you’re a fan of Shyamalan’s other hilarious mess-terpieces. I guarantee, you will laugh your ass off so hard you’ll sh*t your pants like that old man from The Visit. 

            It’s the return of pure Shyamalan madness and while I enjoyed his comeback to making good films with The Visit and Split, I’m happy to see the director hasn’t lost his crazy side.