To cheaply reference one of M Night Shyamalan’s previous films, the director’s work often leaves audiences Split. His new film Old is no different, a return to classic Shyamalan tropes, high-concept premise, horror oriented and a big twist reveal towards the end. While nothing he’s made has ever really come close to passing the shocks of The Sixth Sense, it’s safe to say his films always offer up interesting ideas and rarely follow the traditional Hollywood formula, as is the case with Old.
The film follows a family on vacation at a swanky hotel where they are encouraged to go to check out a tranquil, isolated beach along with a few other couples and families. Once there, they slowly start to realise that time moves differently here as they all begin to age at accelerated rates, with no way of escape.
As hinted at before, Shyamalan’s films often divide audiences and critics. His newest feature is no different with some effective filmmaking set pieces, interesting ideas and unexpected twists and turns, but on the other hand a sometimes laughable script full of exposition and unintentionally hilarious line delivery.
The positives first, I would recommend this film if you’re interested just from the trailer/premise, because it is a really engaging idea (the story is based on the French-Swiss graphic novel “Sandcastle”) that is for the most part executed well. Old is at its best when it’s building suspense and mystery through interesting, dynamic camera work and credible performances from most of the cast.
Special mention going to the main family of Gael Garcia Bernal and Vicky Krieps as well as the older versions of their children played by Alex Wolff and Thomasin Mackenzie who do well at selling the fact that they are children in the bodies of adults.
However, Old suffers from a problem that many of Shyamalan’s films fall victim to and that is a weak script. Too often was I sat there laughing at lines that no real human person would ever say, I laughed more here than I do at most comedies, especially with the children. I’m not trying to slate the child actors but these children just don’t act like real kids, it’s strange and ultimately the criticism has to go to the director in not getting better performances out of these actors.
The weird dialogue doesn’t end at the children either, even with these talented actors they can’t always sell the ridiculous dialogue. Many of the characters straight up tell the audience their strengths and weaknesses or what they should do next instead of trusting the audience to figure it out for themselves along with the characters. Old suffers from too much exposition and not enough subtlety.
Overall, Old will be a divisive film for many but it’s one of M Night Shyamalan’s better recent releases, far better than his last outing Glass. The Twilight Zone/Black Mirror style premise is engaging and provocative but is sometimes let down by a weak script and weird in-authentic line delivery. If there is one thing to say about M Night Shyamalan it’s that his films are a welcome diverge from typical Hollywood flicks, often original but poorly executed.
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