Knock at the Cabin

 

Yesterday, after the art show, Lisa and I took in a showing of  M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin.

A vacationing gay couple and their daughter are held captive by four home invaders who believe the world will end unless they convince the family to willingly sacrifice the life of one of their own. Are they insane, or prophets of the apocalypse? Or have they targeted the couple in a complicated, twisted version of a hate crime? The couple must decide before time runs out for them - and maybe the world. 

This is, by my count, the eighth Shyamalan movie Lisa and I have watched in a theater. It's kind of a tradition of ours. And as much as we love his work overall, there's never been a film where we didn't identify a conspicuous flaw that knocked you out of the moment, even if only for a moment.  It was just his "thing."

I'll be danged if I found any such flaw yesterday.

Start to finish, it worked. It kept you terrified for the family, constantly feeding you just enough clues to make you start to believe the intruders, before tossing doubt into the mix and bringing you back to Earth. The backstory of the couple? Not a bit of it was superfluous, all of it clearly shaping the events of the day. The acting? Spot on. Dave Bautista, man, he deserves to move past the spectre of "wrestler turned actor." 

Now kudos of course to Paul Tremblay, the author who penned the novel on which the film is based.

There are, the internet tells me, significant plot points that diverge from page to screen, but clearly having Shyamalan work off a strong pre-established source paid dividends here.  (that doesn't explain the Airbender debacle, but still). 

I grade this a solid A. 

Go see it!