Old

M. Knight Shyamalan is the kind of writer/director that you either love or hate. I happen to fall on the “love” side of the equation. When he is on point, his movies are thrilling, thought provoking and entertaining (think ‘The Village’ or ‘Sixth Sense’). When he is off, his movies are quite unsatisfying, and even silly (‘The Happening’ and the atrocious “Last Airbender’ come to mind). This newest entry falls somewhere in the middle as far as I am concerned. If you have seen any of the trailers, you know this film is set on a beautiful beach; an idyllic and peaceful tropical setting. A family has come to a rather special resort; and they, along with a few other guests, have been offered the opportunity to enjoy this secluded spot. It isn’t long before they find that things are going terribly wrong. They find out the seclusion is total – they can’t leave the beach, they can’t even call out! And the people on this beach are aging at a terrifyingly fast rate. Why is this happening? Is this a freak of nature or is there a sinister human source? The fun of the movie, like all of Shyamalan’s movies, is to try to figure out what the ultimate revelation is going to be. I was really enjoying this movie until it came to its somewhat unsatisfying conclusion. I didn’t feel the ending lived up to the hype of the rest of the movie, it was definitely anticlimactic. So is it worth going to see? If you are a fan of Mr. Shyamalan (who wrote, directed and acted in “Old,” which is based on a graphic novel of the same name), I would give it a look. If you are not a fan, you will probably want to wait on this one.