I try not to do spoilers when I’m diving into a film discussion, so if parts of this post seem vague, chalk it up to me saving you from learning what the film is truly about. Old arrived in 2021. Because of Covid I avoided heading to the theaters to watch. I finally had a chance to experience M. Night’s latest plot twist. As a fan of everything the director does, yep even Signs, The Village and Lady in the Water, I entered Old with high expectations, but understood that M. Night is a journey and will always require an additional viewing to grasp the subtle hints.
The film follows a family on a vacation pulled from the headlines of any internet opportunity gone awry. This isn’t obvious immediately because of a misdirection play between the husband and wife who appear to be taking on the typical trope of marriage discord. The family arrives to the resort with their kids in tow and they are offered their favorite drinks. Nothing is done in an M. Night film without careful consideration. While the viewer won’t think anything of the drinks, they become an important tool in the plot as the movie develops.
As the film enters its rise in action, which happens very quickly, we are thrown the question of where and why the geographical location driving the story exists. That answer isn’t fully explained, and the fact that rapid aging occurs in this island location delivers the problem. In a graphic novel the ability to readily accept what happens with the children of the families who have been invited on this vacation is easier to digest, but in this film things happen far too quickly and instead of bolstering the story, the narrative becomes sensational. Like many M. Night films the potential for something truly disturbing is rushed cutting short the power of the reveal.
In Old there is an obvious social commentary on the group vs individual aspect of right vs wrong. In an emergency room, during a disaster or catastrophe, arbitrage is used to make decisions on who to save. Not to trivialize that process, but in apocalyptic films the unwillingness to utilize arbitrage is usually the culprit in the spread of deaths. A character is unwilling to make a decision and the chain of events ensues. Old has horrifying moments, but the reveal is too simple. The moment allowing the reveal to happen doesn’t have a buildup strong enough to make the outcome powerful enough to provide an epiphany. I enjoyed the film, but in true M. Night fashion, this could have been an 8 out of 10 instead of a 6 out of 10. There is one scene though which definitely provides a “Dammmmmm” response. You’ll know it when you see it.