The Watchers review

THE WATCHERS: 

A BUMPY START FOR ISHANA NIGHT SHYAMALAN’S DIRECTING CAREER! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Dakota Fanning and a group of strangers in The Watchers

 

            A woman gets stranded in a forest inhabited by mysterious creatures that stalk people in the night in The Watchers, the directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan (Servant, Old, Knock at the Cabin) who is the daughter of the legendary (and sometimes infamous) M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable trilogy, Signs) who also serves as a producer. The film is based on the 2022 novel of the same name by A.M. Shine and one of two Shyamalan-related projects coming out this year with M. Night’s next movie, Trap being released this August. 

            I was interested in seeing this movie when I heard it was coming out, I’ve never read the book before but as someone who (mostly) enjoys Shyamalan’s work either ironically or unironically, I was curious to see what his daughter is capable of as a director. After seeing it, I can definitely say “Like Father, Like Daughter” because this is a pretty rocky start for Ishana but with plenty of potential for later projects. 

            People often forget that M. Night Shyamalan’s early directorial efforts were 1992’s Praying with Anger and the 1998 comedy-drama, Wide Awake which garnered mixed reactions at the times of their releases before striking gold with The Sixth Sense. Because of that, I’m sparing Ishana the jokes often made regarding certain Shyamalan projects as I hope to see her evolve during her career. 

            Even with this film, I wouldn’t call it terrible as there are some genuinely creepy moments and the premise is quite terrifying, but it feels stilted in the execution and sometimes derivative of other movies with similar ideas. More on that after the plot.  

            The film follows Mina (Dakota Fanning-Man on Fire, War of the Worlds (2005), Coraline), an American immigrant working in a pet shop in Ireland who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest. When she finds shelter, Mina unknowingly becomes trapped with a group of strangers that are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures in the night. 

            The film also stars Georgina Campbell (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Krypton, Barbarian) as Ciara, Olwen Fouéré (Mandy, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, The Northman) as Madeline, and John Lynch (The Secret Garden, Angel Baby, Merlin) as the Professor. 

            Overall, The Watchers is at least a well-made thriller with impressive production design,  chilling scenes, and a downright haunting premise about being stranded in the forest and stalked by creatures that take the form of yourself or people you know. But it seems to be a common case of it probably working great as a book and doesn’t translate well to film to the point where it’s filled with exposition and tedium in a relatively short runtime, it’s only an hour and 42 minutes long but it felt like 2 hours because of how it’s paced. 

            It’s a great concept for a supernatural horror movie, but when it’s heavily focused on the lore and gets overly complicated with non-stop exposition it sacrifices character development and becomes a bit of a slog to get through. I’m not kidding, there was literally someone in the theater snoring during the movie as I was watching it which is usually not a good sign for a scary film. 

            It’s also one of those movies that ends twice where you think the movie is wrapping up, but then it keeps going and ends on a purely chaotic note that leaves you scratching your head once the credits roll. Maybe that’s how the actual book ends I don’t know, but as a film’s last act it feels like it’s desperately crawling towards the finish line rather than running a victory lap. 

            The acting is fine I guess with Dakota Fanning being a decent leading protagonist for the film, but because the script is more focused on lore and exposition rather than characters, it doesn’t allow her or any of the other cast members to stand out much. The actors certainly aren’t being soulless here, but the material given to them doesn’t have much for them to work with. 

            The production design captures the mystery and terror of the unknown and even if the film itself wasn’t that good I at least enjoyed looking at the forest scenery on the big screen. It has sort of this bleak and foreboding atmosphere that I did find very effective and helped highlight the suspense of the situation. 

            I also like how for most of the movie, you don’t fully see what the Watchers look like and when they’re onscreen, they’re usually shrouded in the shadows or you just see their claws about to do something frightening. Probably the most suspenseful scene in the movie is when two of the characters are hiding in the bushes and they see the Watchers trying to raid the shelter that everyone else is inside, the way that sequence is executed kept me on the edge of my seat. 

            Despite enjoying certainly elements of it, The Watchers is somehow both a bloated and shallow supernatural thriller at the same time that might help set the foundation for future projects for Ishana Night Shyamalan. I hope more films from her follow after this because she has potential to become an exciting new director in the same vein as her father and if she’s able to take note of criticisms and evolve her craft, I’m excited to see what she does next. 

            Whatever happens, this is an ambitious but misguided effort that just makes you wish you were watching 10 Cloverfield Lane instead. That’s a thriller about being confined to one location when horrific events take place that’s much better handled and a lot more entertaining because of it.