Knock at the Cabin (2023)
Rated R, 1 hour, 40 minutes

M. Night Shyamalan’s newest movie “Knock at the Cabin” is a more conventional movie than we are used to seeing from him. While it does deal with the apocalypse and some supernatural elements, there is no outrageous twist or face palm worthy moments. But does that Shymalan that this is actually a good film? (No it doesn’t!) 

This film sees a couple named Eric and Andrew take a vacation to a cabin in the woods with their young daughter Wen. But shortly a group of 4 people, led by Leonard (played by Dave Bautista), arrive saying that if they don’t sacrifice one of their own the world will end. 

The biggest problem I have with this film is how little depth there is, in all facets of the picture. There is very little character depth and I’m pretty uninterested in all of the characters here. I feel no connection with the protagonists and all of them seem one-dimensional and shallow. Their stories and personalities are never expanded on which leads to the viewer not necessarily caring about what happens throughout the story. 

The film tries to build the backstory of Eric and Andrew through flashbacks but they aren’t done well and really don’t add a lot to the story or to the depth of the characters. 

At the end of the movie, there is this scene between Eric and Andrew where they are deciding who they have to sacrifice and it is meant to be extremely emotional but because the character development isn’t there throughout the rest of the movie, the stakes don’t feel quite as high in this scene. This is just one example of how a lack of complexity is a detriment to the picture. 

The overall plot doesn’t really get fleshed out either. You could essentially watch the trailer and understand 95% of the movie, nothing interesting or unexpected happens throughout the film at all. It is incredibly predictable and the picture does very little to divert your expectations.

This movie wanted to be a complex examination of a moral dilemma and it wanted to explore the fabric of love between two people but the premise is unoriginal and the themes are presented in a traditional, uninteresting way. 

One positive for me though was the acting. Dave Bautista did a great job and it was a joy to watch him, he was definitely the bright spot of the film. I also enjoyed Ben Aldridge’s and Jonathan Groff’s performances as the couple. The performances of those three make the movie watchable even though the overall picture was relatively uninteresting. 

Unfortunately, M. Night Shymalan has yet to return to his early career success. This film has a semi-interesting premise but it never takes the story beyond the obvious. They failed to capitalize on what could’ve been a captivating movie and instead the result was a half baked film that was disappointing to say the least.