Old (2021)

[Eric Duncan]

Discuss

[lilmac]

It was better then I thought. On par with ‘Devil’ and ‘Mr Glass’ in terms of quality. Mid-tier M. Night film.  

B

[Webslinger]

M. Night Shyamalan is back to many of his usual tricks in Old, and your mileage might vary on whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, and to what degree. For me, it was a wildly uneven viewing experience that ultimately worked a little more often than it didn’t. At its core, Old engages with an intriguing idea in using rapid aging to explore our collective existential dread over the passage of time. Shyamalan wrings some nice character moments from this theme, and it lends the film a greater sense of heft and import than it would have had with a more straightforward approach. The main trouble the film faces is that its purposely limited setting and narrow characterizations cause the narrative to feel like it’s spinning its wheels at numerous points. As is typical of Shyamalan’s work, there are also some moments that play out more comedically than I think their maker intended. Despite its flaws, however, it does enough right and ultimately succeeds in presenting the main family’s relationship quite poignantly. It doesn’t scale the heights of Shyamalan’s best work, but it’s also competent and intriguing enough to stand comfortably above his less successful efforts.

 

B-

[MOVIEGUY]

This is exactly the type of B-movie thriller that fits Shamalyan like a glove. Those goofy dialogue / acting moments that are par for the course in his movie kinda just added to the charm. That setpiece with the crazy dad and the mom with the fucked up bones was straight up silly, and there's something charming about a scene like this that doesn't work AT ALL as intended but he completely commits to it. The only thing that did bother me was when the main mom and dad characters were about to die and were supposed to be doddering and ancient but still looked like they were in their 40's, like you couldn't have slapped a little more old person makeup on them? LOL

 

Didn't enjoy it as much as Split or The Visit, about on par with Devil, maybe a little better. I chugged a beer right before I watched it so I had to piss like three times, I missed the birth scene unfortunately

[filmlover]

Definitely a very mixed bag, but ultimately it works more often than it doesn't. There's an intriguing concept at its core, but Shyamalan doesn't fully explore it all too well with some painfully on the nose instances of obvious foreshadowing early on (Narcissistic Trophy Wife to her daughter: "You don't want to be a hunchback." *later grows a hunchback herself while on the beach*) and the big reveal is a letdown. But it's certainly never boring and delivers enough effective moments that it's worth checking out. B-