By We all love M. Night Shyamalan. He has serious contributions to cinema, especially horror cinema. Lately, of course, he is not in his old form, must to admit. He still continues to be the director of interesting subjects, even though he no longer has those crazy twists that were made fun of in the time of Robot Chicken. Still does not hesitate to try new things in each of his films. Although Old remains a weak film when we look at his filmography. But if we evaluate the film in itself, I can say that it is not such a bad film. It all really depends on your expectations.
Let’s talk about it briefly… Before breaking up, Guy and Prisca come on vacation to a hotel they found online in order to have a good time with their children maybe last time. The hotel manager tells them about a secret beach as he is fascinated by the family’s energy. While the family is on their way to the beach, they learn that other families are involved in this secret getaway. The beach is beautiful just as mentioned. Families are having good time. Until 6-year-old Trent suddenly looks 11 years old.
The plot of Old, based on the novel Sandcastle, is not that bad. A group of people will age by 2 years every hour. What I like about the idea is that it shows the fact that diseases and future problems are actually ingrained in our DNA. As time passes and the characters get older, their illnesses appear. These diseases also shape the course of the movie. At the same time, the idea of healing the wounds caused by the rapid flow of time was really interesting. The scene where Abbey Lee broke her arm multiple times was quite creative in my opinion. It was perhaps the best part of the movie.
I liked the idea of fast forwarded life, which is caused by the supernatural beach. I can say that I watched the whole movie with curiosity, but the main problem with the movie is that what happened is left in the air. The idea, which might have been quite attractive as a book, seems to have lost its grip when it turned into a movie. The element of fear or tension is quite weak. It’s intriguing yes, but the result isn’t all that delicious. Normally I like movies that open up ethical debates. After all, our fake hotel manager may have killed a total of 730 people, but his goal is to produce a drug that will save millions or billions of people. Of course, I will leave the question of “who is right” to you. The experiment part is actually the twist of the movie. But this twist, maybe because it is for the benefit of people, we did not like it very much. After all, twists in Shyamalan’s films often lead to bad consequences.
If the cast of the film, which M. Night Shyamalan is also presenting as a scout and driver, were not so strong, perhaps my energy for the film would not be so high. Thomasin McKenzie, Eliza Scanlen and of course Abbey Lee were enjoyable to watch throughout the movie. Along with acting, the directing is also interesting and somewhat experimental. The director preferred to make the transitions in time by rotating the camera, which did add some mystery to the film. Although even its sometimes to much, this shooting technique keeps the story flowing. Dialogues are very important to me in such ultra-absurd situations. I can say that the movie managed to stay logical enough in this regard and ensured that i did not break away from the movie.
To sum it up… Old has handled kind a good idea correctly but the result is unfortunately not that impressive. Old, which can be very attractive while reading, lost its mystery and fear when it turned into a movie. Some ideas, although they sound good, unfortunately do not stand as strong when reflected on the screen. Woefully Old is a good idea yet the result will not satisfy most people. It’s a pleasure to watch, it has some impressive scenes, but i don’t think that will you watch it again when the movie is over? I’m not sure about it.
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