Movies…with a little bit of obscure culture and sports mixed in
“While vacationing, a girl and her parents are taken hostage by armed strangers who demand that the family make a choice to avert the apocalypse.” Director: M. Night ShyamalanWriters: Steve […]
“While vacationing, a girl and her parents are taken hostage by armed strangers who demand that the family make a choice to avert the apocalypse.”
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writers: Steve Desmond, Michael Sherman, M. Night Shyamalan, Paul Tremblay
Staring: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rupert Grint, Abby Quinn, Kristen Cui
Release Date: February 3, 2023
IMDB
Knock at the Cabin is a mystery story with an apocalyptic twist based on the written work of Paul Tremblay. Renowned director M. Night Shyamalan both writes and directs this film that puts the characters, and the audience, in a crazy hypothetical scenario; can you sacrifice one you love to save the world?
Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) are the fathers of young Wen (Kristen Cui) and they are on vacation in a remote, secluded, cute airbnb. Things start getting crazy when jacked, smooth talking, and possibly co-leading Leonard (Dave Bautista) enters the picture. Leonard is the leader of a small group of people who have all shared a similar premonition. This troupe Believes that the apocalypse is coming, and the only way to stop it is for a member of this new loving family to die. between Eric, Andrew, and Wen, one must kill another in order to save the world.
As Knock At The Cabin unfolds, it begins to explore deeper but familiar themes. How much are you willing to sacrifice for the ones you love? How far would you be willing to go to prove something you believe is real? What scriptwriters M Night Shyamalan and Steve Desmond do is put those hypothetical questions in hyperdrive. What would happen if these questions were real, and you had a ticking clock that you had to make a decision by? What if you saw the ramifications of your decisions instantly? How much does it take for you to be convinced of something that seems impossible?
The questions Knock At The Cabin asks are good. The acting performances are good. Everything about this movie is “good.” And then there is the ending. This is a Shyamalan movie of course, so you know the last 15 minutes are going to make or break the story. It’s not for me to decide whether or not the ending works, that’s up to you. you know we are getting into with a Shyamalan movie.
It’s time to start giving Day Bautista more credit than he’s already getting. Bautista is now being sought out by some pretty big directors; Denis Villeneuve, James Gunn, Rian Johnson, Zack Snyder and now M. Night Shyamalan. In Knock At The Cabin, Bautista plays a much more subdued character than we’ve seen in times past. The part of a school teacher is very different from playing a Harkonnen warrior, or a very logical space viking, or a crazy right wing nut, or a former Army zombie killer.
It’s strange to not hear Bautista yell at the top of his voice at any point, but in this thriller he is as monotone as they can get. He is teaching this family as if he’s teaching or coaching some of his kids. He understands that what they’re hearing is completely irrational and he’s trying to put some reality into it with how serious he’s talking about it.
In terms of the rest of the cast, I continue to be a fan of Jonathan Groff in whatever he’s in. I first saw him and David Fincher’s Manhunter, then I realize he was King George III in hamilton, and this man’s just really f****** talented. Knock At The Cabin kind of plays out like a stage play being that 80% of it takes place in one room and there’s a lot of dialogue and some existential questions. With the expressive way that stage actors need to portray their emotions, Groff suits Shyamalan’s enthusiasm for extreme close-ups.
I wasn’t too familiar with Ben ldridge, who plays Andrew. the more emotive of the parents, Andrew is adamant that this apocalyptic event Leonard is talking about is not real. he gets more combative with Leonard, Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Beard), Redmond (Rupert Grint), and Adriane (Abby Quinn).
I have been seeing a lot of Amuka-Beard recently. She was in Shyamalan’s most recent movie, Old (2021), and she’s been in this HBO show that I’ve been watching, Avenue 5. throw in that she was in the greatly underrated movie The Outfit (2022) and she was part of a Stephen Soderberg project in The Laundromat in 2019. She’s on a bit of the come up, and I’ve been working a lot over the past 3 years it would seem.
The flow of Knock At The Cabin is much better than M. Night Shyamalan’s previous film. The angles are still strange, and there’s a lot of facial close-ups, but the pace at which the unique shots are stitched together is more appropriate to a viewer’s eye. It is a credit to Shyamalan and his editors that this movie still feels like a Shyamalan joint, even though it takes place pretty much in one location.
The only parts of the stitching process that seems truly forced, I don’t know if that’s the right word, are the scenes when Leonard turns on the TV. Those staged news broadcasts seemed almost a bit too fake? Too perfectly timed? I know there’s the whole concept about how these people all had these premonitions together and how they’re all on the same page, but there was something about cutting away to this perfectly tuned broadcast that set off a trigger in the back of my mind.
Knock At The Cabin, and Old, both receive the same grade for me in terms of watchability and structure. Knock At The Cabin is better made, has a better leading performance, but its existential questions don’t hit as hard as Old’s do. Old had a great premise but the style that it was made took away from it. I’m going to remember more individual shots from Old, but the lows are much lower. Does all this make sense, or not?
When I eventually do my M Night Shyamalan rankings, I get a feeling that these two are going to be right next to each other. But in terms of Knock At The Cabin, it’s a recommendable movie to anyone who needs a short thriller.
STANKO RATING: C+
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