Old, an M. Night Shyamalan film, was released in theatres July 23. The premise was adapted from a graphic novel called Sandcastle where a series of vacationers spend their day on a secluded beach only to realize it’s somehow causing them to age rapidly, “reducing their entire lives into a single day,” according to IMDB. While this premise is genuinely interesting for a thriller, its execution suffers greatly.
This film was a rollercoaster of plot holes, viewer frustration, and odd script choices. But before we dive into that, let me walk you through my first thought after leaving the theatre: M. Night Shyamalan loves his women. And if you love women too, rest assured that the male gaze is alive and well in this film. With a movie taking place next to the ocean, and given that it’s directed by Shyamalan, expect gratuitous, lingering shots of half-naked women as they get into the water or wander around the beach. Or even a supposed 15-year old girl who’s now “out-grown” her bathing suit since arriving at the beach (okay, that example’s a lot more creepy since she’s supposed to be underaged). Don’t get me wrong: everyone can appreciate a good-looking human being; it’s just that the sexualized shots were unnecessary and felt at odds with the tension and drama Shyamalan was building.
The second thought immediately following the first after leaving the theatre: wait, what the fuck? So many aspects about this movie failed to make sense, leaving it riddled with plot holes. Shyamalan strives to answer the big questions, like why the beach causes them to age (with some hand-waving), why they can’t leave, or what happens to babies born on the beach. Other questions, however, are left obviously unanswered. For example: one character astutely offers a means of escape — everyone takes small steps over several hours through the cave opening leaving the beach, allowing their bodies to acclimate to aging slower. This is promptly never explored or attempted. Another example is that the movie explores the horrors of rapid pregnancy and labour, but not the fact that characters with uteruses should have periods every couple minutes if they’re aging fast. Or that if you hold your breath for a minute you’d probably die.
Another problem with fitting so many ideas around aging into one movie with events happening in a single day is that you don’t really get to know the characters. The plot unravels at whiplash-inducing speeds where one shocking incident after another is happening, leaving little time to process things in between. Instead of getting attached to characters, there’s little time to get to know them or care about them before they’re killed off; each one is just continuously reacting to traumatic events. Because of how fast-paced Old is, it’s difficult to become emotionally invested in anything happening on screen.
As for the script, I have two words: it’s clunky. Dialogue feels stunted and odd, likely mixing bad acting together with a script that doesn’t feel authentic or human. The writing fails to capture the fluidity and dynamicness that is human speech, and fails to pair the writing with actors that can make the script shine despite its flaws. Additionally, the two parent protagonists, Guy and Prisca, are played by actors with heavy accents, making it hard to understand everything they’re saying. Those with hearing or auditory processing difficulties would benefit from watching it out-of-theatres with a service that offers subtitles.
Old was a bad movie released at the right time: countless lives have been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many others have considered their own mortality in wake of the virus. M. Night Shyamalan’s film was rich in potential with its themes of aging, body horror, and disease, but there was little takeaway at the end. The concept of aging was the main theme, but the movie failed to offer any kind of narrative on what it means to age or to truly live — or even what it’s like to live with a debilitating health condition. What was gained by the few characters that survived after witnessing death, illness, and murder? Old felt more concerned with shock-value than providing a meaningful message during a global health crisis.
Old offers a fascinating premise that promises to explore aging, death, and disease, but doesn’t manage to live up to the hype. Its hasty pacing is full of plot holes, features a questionable script, and fails to connect viewers with the characters, but the upside is that from the number of up-and-down shots of bikini-clad women, it won’t leave you guessing Shyamalan’s sexual orientation.
Chandy is a biology major/chemistry minor who's been a staff writer, Arts editor, and Managing Editor at The Cascade. She began writing in elementary school when she produced Tamagotchi fanfiction to show her peers at school -- she now lives in fear that this may have been her creative peak.
