Old
review by Bobby Blakey
Over the years director M. Night Shyamalan has had ups and downs with his unique visions. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed more than not despite what some might have felt. His return to form for me came with the unexpected return to the Unbreakable universe with the completed trilogy with Split and Glass. His latest film Old stars Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Ken Leung, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abbey Lee, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff, Embeth Davidtz, Eliza Scanlen, Emun Elliott, Kathleen Chalfant, and Thomasin McKenzie. Could this latest film keep him back on track or will it fail to age well?
Old follows a family on a tropical holiday who discover that the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly … reducing their entire lives into a single day.
From the first trailer I was really intrigued for this film and had heard mixed things so decided to just keep an open mind going in. The film is a mixed bag of an interesting concept that works often, but also derails from time to time in ways that will not work for everyone. As a whole I enjoyed it, but it never had the impact or the direction that I had expected to really elevate it to anything more than average at best.
The build-up is fine and when things start happening it takes some clever directions and interesting camera angles to sell it all. I was all in as things kept getting stranger and stranger, but I think there use of so many characters made it less impactful as things happened to each of them. This also never allows you to really care about any of them even at the end of it all when its revealed.
The ending is where things will either work or not work for you. I didn’t mind it but was really hoping for something more sinister with a twist that
slaps you in the face. Instead its more grounded in a way that works, but is kind of silly in the bigger picture. As it all wraps there is never any really big payoff and there are a lot of really bad choices made per usual in the genre to keep it from being a standout horror flick and instead one that will likely entertain some and bore others.
I still love the majority of M. Night Shyamalan’s work and still think this was a bold and interesting direction for a film and hope people at least give it a chance to come to your own conclusion. In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including deleted scenes and numerous featurettes taking you behind bringing his latest vision to life.
Grab your copy of Old available now on digital and then on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on October 19th from Universal Home Entertainment.