Old review

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan will always be known to have quite a few surprises and twists in most of his movies - well, except for ‘After Earth’ and ‘The Last Airbender.’ After delivering audiences ‘Split’ and ‘Glass’ (which ended up becoming an unofficial ‘Unbreakable’ trilogy), Shyamalan is back to give audiences another dose of surprises with ‘Old.’

In the Universal Pictures presentation of ‘Old,’ a tropical holiday turns into a horrific nightmare when a family visits a secluded beach that’s somehow causing them to age rapidly - reducing their entire lives into a single day.

The latest M. Night Shyamalan mystery is a very unique and sometimes effective thriller that does an alright job building up the suspense. ‘Old’ delivers some tense moments here and there and the movie’s premise is really intriguing.

Granted, ‘Old’ isn’t nearly as scary as some of his previous movies. The plot of the movies does have a lot of potential and does make you think at times. The few thrills that the movie offers can be interesting and can keep you entertained.

Overall, the latest movie from Shyamalan is very predictable at times and the ending is both satisfying and a head-scratcher. So, in other words, it had potential and could’ve been better.

The cast: Gel Garcia Bernal (Coco) as Guy; Vicky Krieps (The Last Vermeer; The Girl in the Spider’s Web) as Prisca; Rufus Sewell (The Father; Judy) as Charles; Alex Wolff (Jumanji: The Next Level) as Trent Aged 15; Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit) as Maddox Aged 16; Abbey Lee (HBOs Lovecraft Country) as Chrystal; Nikki Amuka-Bird (Personal History of David Copperfield) as Patricia; Ken Leung as Jerin; Eliza Scanlen (Netflix’s The Devil All The Time; Little Women) as Kara Aged 15; Embeth Davidtz (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) as Adult Maddox; Emun Elliot as Adult Trent and Aaron Pierre as Mid-Sized Sedan.

‘Old’ is written, produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also worked on ‘Glass,’ ‘Split,’ ‘The Visit’ and a little movie called ‘The Sixth Sense.’

Here are a few interesting tidbits about ‘Old’:

• The movie is an adaptation of a 2010 graphic novel by writer Pierre Oscar Levy and artist Frederik Peeters called ‘Sandcastle.’

• Before production, Shyamalan screened two films for his cast and crew, which were said to be big influences on the style and tone that he wanted for ‘Old.’ The first was 1971s ‘Walkabout’ directed by Nicholas Roeg. The second was ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ (1975) directed by Peter Weir. Shyamalan described them as “stories about human beings struggling against the overwhelming power of nature” - films where nature becomes something mysterious, overwhelming, almost supernatural.

• ‘Old’ marks the first time the filmmaker has filmed entirely outside Greater Philadelphia.

• Principal photography officially began on September 26, 2020 in the Dominican Republic.