Old (2021)

On August 6th, 1999, The film The Sixth Sense was released in theaters in the United States. It had a plot twist that, at the time, few saw coming. To this day, The Sixth Sense is best known for its incredibly well done plot twist. Its director, M. Night Shyamalan got two Oscar nominations for it. Seeing this, Mr. Shyamalan decided that, to recapture the success of this critically acclaimed film, he was going to put a plot twist in all of his films. Every. Single. One. What he failed to realize is that, by doing this, the audiences would catch on and expect a plot twist and/or, even worse, be able to guess what the twist will be.

This, like many of Shyamalan's works, is the case for Old which has been released today. I was lucky enough to see it a day before it was released. Unfortunately, I don't know if it was worth the money. Due to this being a new release, I must be brief in describing it. The film has few big names, with the only faces I recognized being Alex Wolff, of Naked Brothers Band and Hereditary (2018) fame, and Ken Leung, from Saw (2004). Everyone else is a face I do not believe I have seen in a film before. I will warn the reader that there are very minor spoilers ahead. If you want little-to-no idea of what is going to happen, I would suggest you stop reading now.

The film opens with a family, consisting of the mother, Prisca (Vicky Krieps), father Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal), and their children, Trent (Nolan River) and Maddox (Alexa Swinton), being driven in a minibus to an exotic resort, where they are greeted by very courteous staff who offer them drinks based on their "preferences". Trent and Maddox quickly befriend other children at the resort and appear to have a great time. Trent befriends another boy, Idlib (Kailen Jude), with whom he creates a secret spy language with.

This is where some of the ridiculousness starts. Idlib is concerned about his friendship with Trent, as they won't see each other after the trip. Trent tells him that they could FaceTime with his mom's phone and that they will go to college together and... have mortgages??? Okay, I get it. It's supposed to be foreshadowing what will happen next with the aging, but do you expect me to believe that a six year old is going to talk like that?

It is revealed that the trip is being taken as one last family trip for the four as Prisca and Guy plan to separate after. The next day, the hotel manager approaches the family and gives them an offer to take a trip to a secretive beach not far from the resort. They are joined by another family, consisting of Charles (Rufus Sewell), his wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee), their daughter Kara (Mikayla Fisher), and Charles' mother, Agnes (Kathleen Chalfant). They arrive at the beach, driven to by Shyamalan himself in a cameo, and they are amazed by the stone structure surrounding it. A famous rapper, Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre), is already there. They are later joined by another couple, Nurse Jarin (Leung) and his epileptic wife, Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird).

I must say that the diversity of the people on the beach is remarkable. Jarin is Asian, Patricia is Black, as is Sedan, Charles sounds to be British, and Prisca and Guy have accents of some kind. Their kids, however, have American accents, which I find rather odd. It isn't specified where the resort is or where any of the people on the island are from.

Anyway, Trent discovers a floating corpse of a woman. Sedan, who is repeatedly bleeding out of his nose, reveals that he was with her. This causes Charles to become extremely hostile towards him, believing he killed her. Soon, the people discover that their young children, between 6 and 11, are noticably aging quickly. This only gets worse with everyone. Also, any attempt at trying to escape the beach results in the person blacking out and stumbling back to the beach. As this continues, the people become more hostile toward one another. Also, when children age, they develop hormones, which makes things even more difficult between aging Trent (Wolff) and Kara (Eliza Scanlan).

The hormones part I mention because, while this is used in the film, it is used very poorly. Realism in films is always applauded. However, realism isn't always a good idea, depending on the scene. In one scene, that is supposed to be serious with an incredibly serious event occurring, Trent begins having a ridiculous teenage outburst about his feelings for Kara. This makes the scene incredibly laughable. Could you have made the scene without that, Shyamalan? Unfortunately, this isn't the only unintentionally funny moment in the film.

The acting is fine. Unfortunately, Shyamalan clearly gives them poor direction and some of the dialogue is subpar. This isn't every performance, though. I have a soft spot for Alex Wolff because his show and band were a part of my childhood. However, his performance in Hereditary, at times, was less than impressive. Not much has changed in Old. The music choices are mediocre in some scenes. In one scene, the music makes a scary part hilarious.

Now, I do commend the realism in rapid aging, even when it's poorly used. Shyamalan comes from a family of doctors and I wouldn't be surprised if they served as consultants on the film. Even though the film is based off of a graphic novel, I like the idea the movie is based off of. Where do I stand with Old? I don't really know. I didn't hate the film because it kept me entertained... until the last 10-15 minutes of the film, but I also didn't come in with high expectations. I also can't call it a good film due to its flaws and the fact that, due to Shyamalan's name being attached, I expected a plot twist, even though the twist is okay. So, all in all, Old was good in its plot and realism, but fell flat with its laughable situations, poorly placed realism, some of its acting, as well as an abundance of other issues. While the bad outweighs the good, it kept me entertained, and that's all that matters to me. Mr. Shyamalan, please stop putting plot twists in every single film you make. At this point, not putting a plot twist in one of your films will be a plot twist. I rate this film FAIR on the scale.