The Doctor’s Diagnosis: B-
I’ll preface this by saying that I’m being generous with the B- grade. Old is a movie that doesn’t live up to its own concept and can never make the leap from decent to great. The core idea of the film lays a foundation something greater than what was actually built, as a great concept is hampered by poor dialogue, bizarre character choices and a poorly-constructed third act. But, much like with Christopher Nolan, I’m inclined to give M. Night Shyamalan some bonus points for at least attempting to make something different in a modern Hollywood environment that abhors creativity and risks. He doesn’t stick the landing with this one, but at least he took the leap and made something that I will remember.
Based on the graphic novel Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, Old is the story of a group of people that go to an island resort and are directed to a private beach. However, they soon discover that time is horribly accelerated on this beach and they are aging a year for every half-hour that passes. They also can’t leave, as some force causes them to black out every time they attempt to do so. Once this basic setup is established, the rest of the film unfolds as people grapple with the idea that their entire lifespan is being condensed into about a single day.
The basic concept is brilliant and would fit perfectly into The Twilight Zone, putting it directly into Shyamalan’s wheelhouse, and it lends itself to some great, horrific scenarios. A tumor grows in minutes, a cut from a rusty blade is an immediate death sentence and broken bones quickly heal in twisted directions in scenes of body horror that seem straight out of a David Cronenberg film. Perhaps most creatively, a pair of kids reach puberty in a matter of hours, resulting in an ill-advised and immediate pregnancy. The film does not let its concept go to waste and it goes in some ingenious, and often disturbing, directions with it.
The primary problem (at least in the first two acts) is that the characters and dialogue are horribly written, basically negating any real suspense or dread that could have been built from the setup. It isn’t the fault of the solid cast, either, but rather a script that never allows its characters to feel real and largely uses them for clunky exposition dumps. It’s somewhat difficult to articulate the main issue here, as everything just seems off. People behave erratically, their reactions often don’t match what they are seeing and their dialogue is sometimes unintentionally funny because it is so clearly being said in the service of the plot. For instance, a kid’s schtick is to walk up to strangers and ask them for their name and occupation, as if Shyamalan was searching for the least organic way possible to get that information out of the way. At another point, kids are playing house and, to the shock of the parents, have a brief argument about mortgages. It’s this sort of thing that is supposed to have thematic relevance, but doesn’t work because the dialogue seems so disingenuous. There is also a rapper character named Mid-Sized Sedan and I’m still not sure if this was supposed to be a joke. I thought it was funny as hell, but I sometimes can’t tell when I’m supposed to take something seriously anymore.
Then there is the final act. I’m not going to reveal the big twist here and will only discuss it in vague terms, but this could have worked. However, much like the rest of the film, it relies so heavily on awkward exposition that it ruins its potential. Although the graphic novel offers no explanation for the beach, Shyamalan felt the need to introduce a Shyamalan-like twist that at least explains the why, if not the how. Although I think the film would have been stronger without any explanation, the twist does (coincidentally) play into a lot of modern fears and paranoia stemming from the pandemic. The problem, aside from being unnecessary, is the almost hilariously awkward way that this is explained to the audience. A character literally begins a speech with the phrase “As you know….”, which is a textbook red flag indicating that the screenwriter didn’t know how to organically provide information to the audience and is instead going to do so with an exposition-loaded speech that makes little sense in the context of the scene. It would be like if your boss stood up one day, said “As you know….”, and then explained the basics of your company to everyone in the room. You would be somewhat confused, as there is no need for this because you already work there. Same idea here. It’s incredibly lazy writing and ruins something that could have been salvaged with a simple rewrite.
I actually first saw Old at a test screening back in April and made another trip to the theater to see if any of the film’s issues had been addressed. They weren’t and, aside from trimming a couple of things, this is basically the same movie that I saw in the spring. As far as Shyamalan’s films go, this is in the middle of the pack; it’s nowhere near either his best or his worst, making it comparable to Signs as far as his catalog goes. Check it out, but don’t be in a rush to do so.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_(film)#/media/File:Old_film_poster.jpg
