Old

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Eliza Scanlen, Aaron Pierre, Embeth Davidtz, Emun Elliott, Kailen Jude, Gustaf Hammarsten, Francesca Eastwood, Matthew Shear, Kathleen Chalfant
Running Time: 108 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)  

Before Jordan Peele, we had M. Night Shyamalan. And his latest, Old, promises we could very well be stuck with him for a while. While that's not quite as bad as it sounds, it's become impossible to overlook the constant comparisons between these two filmmakers, each of whom have cited The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling as their primary inspiration. Peele can be grateful for having only directed three pictures, knowing he'll have a long way to go before his career could possibly be stained with the wild inconsistency that's plagued Shyamalan's. After a mini-resurgence of sorts with Split, he backslid again by trying to create his own Shyamalaniverse with the poorly received Glass. Now watching Old, you come to the realization that despite a superior concept to work from, not a whole lot has changed. 

Shyamalan seems interested in delivering impactful social commentary, but unlike Peele, it just doesn't seem to hold his interest for long, as he falls back on thrills, kills, and yes, final twists. The result here is a colossally mixed bag that's sometimes unpleasant to watch, both for its directionless hysterics and meandering execution. The oddest thing is that parts of it really work and you can imagine him delivering a successful screen adaptation of Pierre Oscar Levy's Swiss graphic novel, "Sandcastle," that's a compelling treatise on time and mortality. Elements in this compelling premise fleetingly connect, but aren't fluidly presented, resulting in some over-the-top moments that may bring back painful memories of the unintentionally hilarious lion attack scene in the director's own The Happening. It's interspersed with other wacky, wild sequences that just don't fit, leaving little doubt that Shyamalan was more interested in delivering non-stop action than following through on all the untapped thematic potential this idea contained.  

Currently going through a divorce, Guy (Gael García Bernal) and Prisca (Vicky Krieps) Cappa are taking their children Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and Trent (Nolan River) to a tropical resort for a final family vacation together. Welcomed with open arms by the resort manager (Gustaf Hammarsten) and employees (Francesca Eastwood and Matthew Shear), the kids befriend Idlib (Kailen Jude), the manager's young nephew, before they're all transported via van to a secluded beach. While there they meet three additional parties of vacationers: surgeon Charles (Rufus Sewell), his wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee), their young daughter Kara (Kylie Begley) and Charles' mother, Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant). Spouses Jarin (Ken Leung) and Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird), and a rapper known as "Mid-Sized Sedan"(Aaron Pierre). 

After the corpse of Mid-Sized's companion is discovered and strange incidents occur related to the travelers' preexisting medical conditions, it's clear something's very wrong. When another unexpected discovery reveals a phenomena on the beach that's causing everyone to age at alarming rates, they unsuccessfully attempt to escape. With beachgoers now suddenly dropping liking flies, the remaining survivors race against time to find out why, with the hope of preserving however many precious hours remain on their lives.

The film's most problematic portion arrives just as the nightmare scenario on the beach unfolds. In what feels like twenty minutes to a half-hour of pure chaos, various characters are scrambling like chickens with their heads cut off to figure out what's going on. In fact, decapitated chickens might be the only thing absent, as their misfortunes aren't merely limited to rapid aging, but violent knife attacks, suicides, cancerous tumors, psychosis and dead babies. How Shyamalan managed to escape an 'R' rating can only be chalked up to judicious editing that goes out of its way to avoid showing too much. This leaves us somewhere between a 'PG-13' horror thriller and an 'R' rated philosophical drama, though likely alienating both sets of audiences by not fully committing to either. 

None of this is offensively bad so much as repetitive and a little silly, as we're left wondering if there was a less hyperbolic way to introduce the premise. Shyamalan inexplicably plays coy by holding out on the rapid aging reveal, a surprise that would have worked better if the movie wasn't already titled Old and the trailers and commercials didn't give it away. But he persists, filming the two characters from behind, not showing them and using every visual trick he can to string us along before pulling back the curtain to reveal a new pair of older actors taking over the roles. 

In a sea of performers chewing on scenery (see Rufus Sewell's raging maniac), Thomasin McKenzie and Alex Wolff do provide affecting turns as teen versions of siblings Maddox and Trent. The movie is all the better for focusing on them, and when Shyamalan grabs control of the premise, it's easier to appreciate what's done well, such as the make-up and effects work that believably age the characters at five and ten year intervals. There's also a sequence involving the Cappa family that cuts to the core of what this film could have been. Of course, your level of attachment may vary since the sheer number of deaths and different actors playing the same characters serve to keep viewers at an arm's length for much of its running time.

Featuring a twist ending that's somehow eye-rolling and serviceable all at once, there's a sense the material didn't need to be this overcooked and we could have done without a body count high enough to make Michael Myers blush. Stakes diminish when multiple characters are expiring every two minutes, so it's kind of a miracle Shyamalan even pulls off what he does, especially considering how familiar we've become with his gotcha finales. He deviates from the graphic novel by leaving less up to the imagination, but as far as wrapping things up, it probably falls on the higher end of his writing output.

Those clocking the screen time of Shyamalan's trademark cameos will be either delighted or depressed to learn that this appearance is his biggest yet, both in terms of length and function. What's less of a surprise is that Old is all over the place, as the polarizing filmmaker again challenges himself and us by depicting protagonists threatened not only by an unseen, existential menace, but themselves. And much like most of his work, seeing this just to say you did isn't the worst idea in the world. At least by now, it's easier to know exactly what you're in for.             

Beckett

Director: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
Starring: John David Washington, Alicia Vikander, Boyd Holbrook, Vicky Krieps, Maria Votti, Panos Koronis, Lena Kitsopoulou
Running Time: 108 min.
Rating: R 

★★★ (out of ★★★★)  

Tightly wound and consistently suspenseful, Netflix's political conspiracy thriller, Beckett is bit better than it first appears, wringing genuine tension from the familiar premise of an ordinary man facing insurmountable circumstances. In certain ways, it starts out recalling something along the lines of 2010's The American in terms of tone and style before taking a more action-oriented turn that ups the excitement and violence level. In this case, the American in question is an innocent vacationer rather than a contracted killer, even as he inches closer to the latter by film's end. 

Having already acclimated himself nicely as the quintessential man on the run in Christopher Nolan's Tenet, this is the kind of role John David Washington has already proven to excel at. Here, he plays a man helplessly spiraling into imminent danger after making one horrible mistake that sets off a chain of almost inhumanly bad luck. Having to readjust quickly, he proves more formidable and resourceful than expected, as director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino tries his best to recreate the kind of old school, paranoid atmosphere prevalent in '70's pictures like The Parallax View, with decidely more mixed results.  

U.S. Tourist Beckett (Washington) is vactioning in Greece with girlfriend April (Alicia Vikander) when the two decide to leave their hotel in Athens due to nearby protesting. But when Beckett falls asleep at the wheel, veering off the road and crashing into a nearby house, April is killed immediately. Badly injured and trapped in the car, Beckett can make out a boy being accompanied out of the house by an unknown blonde woman (Lena Kitsopoulou) before he wakes up in the hospital the next day. 

After Beckett gives his statement to the Officer Xenakis (Panos Koronis) at the station, he returns to the accident scene, only to get followed and shot at. Running for his life with these assailants on his trail, Beckett needs to find a way to get to the U.S. embassy in Athens, relying primarily on the help of political activists Lena (Vicky Krieps) and Eleni (Maria Votti). With the truth behind why he's being hunted still unclear, Beckett must come to grips with his own fatal mistake while attempting to escape a dangerous web of deceit and corruption that cuts to the core of the country's unrest. 

With a premise and opening half hour that teases a Hitchcockian puzzlebox, it starts becoming clear later that there just isn't enough style and substance present for it to truly earn such a lofty comparison. That's fine, as few can, bit it does settle into more conventional action territory as Kevin Rice's script fleshes itself out, leaking morsels of information as Beckett deals with one complication after the next in his mission to find safety. But what he really wants is only to get his deceased girlfriend's body returned to the states so that this nightmare can end.

Beckett's guilt and anger over April's death seems to be his primary driving force, which is ironic considering the car accident doesn't have as much to do with the actual conspiracy as you'd think, at least directly. But does this guy ever take a beating, from getting shot, jumping off cliffs to getting stabbed, you could be fooled into thinking this is an unannounced Superman sequel. But because the story follows a clear trajectory of events and Washington's so effective at selling the anguish and frustration over his plight, it at least clears the low action movie threshold necessary for us to temporarily suspend disbelief.

Compared with Washington, Alicia Vikander's role as the doomed April is minor, her performance playing better in hindsight once the fallout following the character's death is fully accessed by film's end. That said, the two actors have very little chemistry as a couple and some of their early small talk is insufferable, putting a damper on the proceedings right out of the gate. Curiously missing in action since her breakthrough in 2017's Phantom Thread, Vicky Krieps turns in solid supporting work as the headstrong, but skeptical activist faced with the dilemma of whether to trust a desperate, volatile stranger. Boyd Holbrook also memorably appears as a U.S. embassy employee Beckett is forced to rely on if he has any hopes of extracting himself from this mess.  

It's up for debate whether the final explanation of events lives up to the action preceding it, but the creative execution mostly delivers, as the script's clarity and cleanliness is appreciated in a time when movies of this ilk pile contrivances on top of contrivances to get where it needs to go. There may be moments of that going on, but not an egregious, empty-headed amount, making it easier to become invested in the outcome. Revolving around a somewhat sympathetic protagonist in the wrong place at the wrong time, Filomarino holds our attention by using all the reliable tricks a throwback potboiler should. Beckett doesn't reinvent the wheel, but adequately accomplishes what's needed, making it more than worth a watch.