Movie review: Old
OLD (PG13)
After more than 20 years and 10 movies, M. Night Shyamalan's twist endings never get old.
But that does not mean they feel that novel or fresh either.
The macabre premise of his new mystery thriller Old - now showing in cinemas - intrigues right away. After all, premature ageing and the deterioration of the body, mind and senses are a horror show in itself.
Things get weird fast and the story grips you till the end, although you may lament the lost potential.
A tropical resort holiday turns into a nightmare when a divorcing couple (Gael Garcia Bernal and Vicky Krieps) and their young kids are trapped on a secluded beach that is causing them to age rapidly, reducing their entire lives into a single day.
Other parties present in the same boat include a schizophrenic surgeon (Rufus Sewell) and his shallow trophy wife (Abbey Lee), both of whom are later responsible for some grotesque body horror moments.
They get picked off one by one in different fashion, where the serial killer is Father Time.
As always, Shyamalan excels in creating and sustaining an unsettling atmosphere, one filled with tension, suspense, dread and fear.
However, Old lacks any emotional introspection about human mortality, save for a fleeting moment of reconciliation between Bernal and Krieps.
The gallery of disposable characters are also about as fully realised as those in a B-grade slasher, so we are never fully invested in their eventual fate.
The big reveal does not pack that much of a punch, feeling like something out of a Twilight Zone or Black Mirror episode. Then again, nothing can truly live up to The Sixth Sense.
And of course, like all Shyamalan films, the auteur cannot resist inserting himself (twice) into the narrative. This time, it is almost as literal as his world-changing writer in Lady In The Water. If only he had committed to making more of a statement here. - JEANMARIE TAN
Score : 3/5
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