Item: Old
Rating: 6.8
Author: NextFlicks

A group of holiday makers suddenly find themselves growing old and rapidly ageing, with their entire lives reduced into a single day. A mystery horror from M. Night Shyamalan.

From writer director M. Night Shyamalan comes the mystery horror movie Old, starring Gael García Bernal, Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat) and Vicky Krieps.

We're all pretty familiar with Shyamalan movies, with classics such as Signs and The Sixth Sense capturing the imagination of fans for decades.

An adaptation of a 2010 graphic novel Sandcastle, by writer Pierre Oscar Levy and artist Frederik Peeters, does this film have the same level of intrigue?

More importantly, what is it about, and is it worth watching?

What Is Old About?

Guy and Prisca bring their children, Maddox and Trent, to a remote paradise for a tropical holiday to mend their fractured relationships.

The resort, known for its idyllic beauty, attracts families seeking solace from their busy lives. However, what awaits them will defy all expectations.

As the family settle into their luxurious cabana, they notice something peculiar: time seems to be accelerating at an alarming rate.

Their children, who had just been carefree youngsters moments ago, begin to age rapidly before their eyes. Panic and confusion consume the family as they realise they are trapped in a mysterious phenomenon that alters time.

Soon, the resort's other guests face the same unsettling fate. There is Charles (Rufus Sewell), an esteemed doctor, who finds himself rapidly succumbing to old age. His wife, Chrystal (Abbey Lee), is left desperate, grappling with the loss of her husband's vitality.

Then, there is the enigmatic rapper Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre), hiding behind his sunglasses, his youth slipping away with each passing minute.

As the realisation of their predicament sinks in, the guests, now ageing exponentially in just a few hours, frantically search for answers. They discover a foreboding cliffside cave, its entrance emanating an eerie aura. Inside, they stumble upon a rusted pharmaceutical research station, hinting at a secret experiment gone awry.

With each hour feeling like a lifetime, the group attempt to decipher the mysterious force controlling their existence. In the midst of their struggle, they discover that the secluded beach they had so eagerly sought out was a testing ground for a pharmaceutical company's experiment. The beach accelerates time, reducing their entire lives to a single day.

Trapped in a race against time, the survivors must find a way to escape the clutches of the beach before it consumes them entirely. But the beach guards its secrets with a relentless grip, and as tensions rise and bodies weaken, the group faces an uphill battle for survival.

Old Official Trailer

Is Old Worth Watching?

Through clever twists and turns, Old challenges perceptions of time, mortality, and the fragility of human existence.

M. Night Shyamalan masterfully weaves a tale that forces us to confront our own mortality, urging us to appreciate the fleeting moments that make up our lives.

It's the movie equivalent of the ‘what if you only had one day left to live' scenario.

Old is a thought-provoking movie that takes viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions. It explores the fragility of life, the inevitable passage of time, and the human spirit's resilience in the face of unimaginable circumstances.

However, none of this can rescue the movie from one major problem. The script. The character dialogue is clunky and unrealistic. In fact, it borders on monotone in delivery and in no way reflects how real people speak to each other.

It's such a shame to take a unique concept, with interesting ideas and an idyllic setting, and simply turn it into a movie that will annoy viewers, particularly when you throw in a lacklustre ending that undoes the whole concept of the film in the first place.

With little middle ground, Old is a movie you will either love or hate. I sit somewhere in between. It's watchable but a letdown from such a visionary filmmaker.