If you’re a fan of M. Night Shyamalan you’re probably excited to see his next movie hitting theaters. But as someone who has enjoyed only a couple of his past films, this one isn’t going to make the list of favorites any time soon. Old is based on the novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters, and promises viewers a thrilling mystery – one that will keep them on the edge of their seats. But instead, we got a predictable movie with a couple jump scares and gross scenes.
The film follows Guy and Prisca as they take their family on a tropical getaway – an escape they’re hoping to be one last trip together before they split as a couple. When the resort offers to take them to a remote beach as an exclusive place to relax that only locals know about, they jump at the offer. They quickly find that they aren’t the only ones who will be on this remote beach – but that isn’t the worst of it. Their quiet escape quickly goes wrong after a body washes up on the shores, and they start noticing changes in everyone around them. The beach it seems has some force that speeds up the aging process and will not only reduce their lives to one day – but there is no way to escape as one by one people die around them.
The concept of Old is interesting, but it jumps quickly from each person’s death to the next without little buffer time. Although, if each hour equates to several years of your life – I guess it wouldn’t take that long to jump between the deaths and crimes of each person on the beach. It doesn’t take time to process things or let the dread build up, but just alludes to this ongoing threat and you watch as the same mistakes are made over and over again.
Old does have a satisfying resolution, but as they fly off into the sunset the statement “we’ll be ok” is made with very little chance of that actually happening. The movie is a typical M. Night Shyamalan style, full of built-up suspense or perceived dread with little payout. It seemed too predictable at times and jumped around almost too much for it to build suspense you’d hope for. Fans of Shyamalan will no doubt add it to their lists of favorites, but if you’re on the fence on this one, it might be better to skip it, because it will feel like you are the one who lost time you can’t get back.
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About Old:
This summer, visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan unveils a chilling, mysterious new thriller about a family on a tropical holiday who discover that the secluded beach where they are relaxing for a few hours is somehow causing them to age rapidly … reducing their entire lives into a single day.
The film stars an impressive international cast including Gael García Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle series), Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), Rufus Sewell (The Man in the High Castle series), Alex Wolff (Hereditary), Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), Abbey Lee (Lovecraft Countryseries), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Jupiter Ascending), Ken Leung (Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens), Eliza Scanlen (Little Women), Aaron Pierre (Kryptonseries),Embeth Davidtz (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Emun Elliott (Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens), Gustaf Hammarsten (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Alexa Swinton (Billions series), Kathleen Chalfant (The Affair series), Francesca Eastwood (Heroes Reborn series) and Nolan River (Adverse).
Old is a Blinding Edge Pictures production, written for the screen and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, based on the graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Lévy and Frederik Peeters. The film is produced by Marc Bienstock (Glass, Split), Ashwin Rajan (Glass, AppleTV+’s Servant) and Shyamalan. The film’s executive producer is Steven Schneider.
