Directed by M. Night Shyamalan and based on the novel Sandcastle, Old follows a family on a tropical vacation after they discover that the secluded beach they are relaxing on for a few hours is somehow causing them and others to age rapidly, reducing their entire lives into a single day. With a race against time, they must find out what is causing this supernatural event and try to escape.
Now I know that when it comes to M. Night Shyamalan most people feel so divisive about him and his work but I’m one of the few people that has always actively supported him despite some of his failures, because I do believe he is a great filmmaker that aims to be more original with his works and always manages to put a lot of effort in it, especially on a technical level. He doesn’t try to hop aboard any commercial trends in the film industry and in his career has produced a lot of unique films that stand out including my favorite film trilogy of all time, the East Rail Trilogy (Unbreakable, Split, Glass).
Yeah, he has definitely made some serious stinkers but there are other films I feel get way too much hate despite the issues they have. I know most people were divided on his last film Glass, but I absolutely loved it and I also loved the Apple TV series he was recently involved in called Servant, which if you haven’t seen I highly recommend you do. So I always give any new project of M. Night Shyamalan a fair chance no matter what response it may have from critics or other moviegoers.
After watching the film I can honestly say I am straight up mixed on this film. This is a hard film to talk about in detail due to spoilers so I’ll just get straight to what was great about this film and what was terrible.
Starting with the great I think the story is really good and was an effectively disturbing and fantastical mystery. It all plays out like an episode of the Twilight Zone as it really gets you on the edge of your seat with how time plays out on the supernatural beach and just how quickly things can go from bad to worse.
There were a lot of sequences that really gave me chills down my spine and really prove that M. Night can still make very effective thrillers. There are some parts of the story that would have benefited from a bit more patch work to make the narrative feel more fluid, and further exploration of certain themes that come up in the film, but overall I do feel the story itself is well done. It makes me kind of want to read the graphic novel this film was based on.
And as for the expected big twist of this film, as most M. Night films are known for, I feel the twist here was a good one. He really did a great job setting this one up by offering a lot of visual and narrative clues that all end up coming together when the twist is revealed. We get a slight exposition dump that explains some things but the rest is up to the audience to put together. The foreshadowing was also done really well in this film, offering some very satisfying sequences and in my opinion making for a good ending too.
As for how the film is on a technical level, it is a fantastically made movie, featuring a gorgeous setting, excellent cinematography, really great sound design, and absolutely stellar music.
This film feels extremely practical with only a few instances of CGI present here and there for certain parts. You feel sucked into the paradise shown on screen, which in turn adds to the tension and thrills you feel when everything goes crazy. The way the film is shot also adds to the story with how certain objects or areas get focused on to demonstrate their importance in the story and offer visual clues to the big mystery of the film as well as the big twist.
The music by Trevor Gureckis is very effective and hits hard when it needs to especially in quiet scenes and emotional scenes.
Now that all the good stuff is out of the way let’s talk about the bad stuff. There are two things in this film that completely drag down everything, which just so happens to come from the worst of M. Night’s works. The acting and dialogue. Two words for these two things in this film: fucking atrocious.
From the very start of this film the conversations characters have with each other and the direction they are given is bad and the things they are all made to say make them not sound like actual humans talking. A part of me was hoping this would all just be for the beginning part of the film but unfortunately, it continued throughout the entire film and it completely drags down any sort of care and connection to the characters due to just how poor the performances are. And this is by no means the fault of the cast because there are great actors and actresses here but they are just given the worst material to work with and their deliveries are so restricted and awful. You can feel they want to do more but are not given the chance.
I will say that the one actor I felt did the best job of all of them was Alex Wolff. He absolutely hooked me with his performance in the film especially for some of the emotional moments that he made effective. He was the only one that I felt was really able to give it his all. No one else was able to except for a few instances.
And some of the things these characters end up saying at random that have no real purpose to the plot made me honestly laugh at how dumb it was. It honestly reminded me of The Happening with the hokey acting and writing for the characters. Just to be clear, this film is way better than The Happening but I hate the fact it takes one of the worst elements of that film and puts it in this one. There were scenes that I felt could have been really effective and moving in the film but completely fell flat at the worst moments possible, dragging down what essentially could have been the perfect thriller.
So to summarize, this film is by no means a completely terrible film like some people have been saying. I feel that most critics and other moviegoers that hate this film are being way too harsh on it and they are trying to compare it to M. Night’s worst works when this film has many things that automatically make it better than his worst works. But at the same time, I can completely understand what their major issues with the film are, which are mainly the acting and dialogue.
This film was so close to being perfect yet one of the most crucial elements of the film ended up really tanking it hard for me. It is such a shame because I think it is a fun thriller with a chilling story and a good twist that was built up very well. I hope that for whatever M. Night’s next project is that he can write the characters better, direct his cast better and just keep on going forward and not backward. I’m going to give Old a C.
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