Trap (2024)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Hayley Mills

Have I Seen It Before: Never. If it doesn’t play at Circle, and it isn’t on the schedule for Beyond the Cabin in the Woods, I’m going to have to make a real effort to catch it in theaters.

Did I Like It: Lora said the best thing about this film, and I have not seen the thought expressed anywhere else. So, it needs to be shared:

The real twist in the film is that they got Hayley Mills out of retirement to spring a trap on a parent.

Now everybody can see why I married her.

But to the question of just what the twist is. There are a couple of minor turns of fate that change the course of the movie, but no real moment where the entirety of the movie you’ve just been watching suddenly becomes an entirely different movie. Maybe the minor debacle of Glass (2019) scared him off thing that made his famous, but I couldn’t help but think it showed a great degree of restraint to not make it so that the killer’s wife (Allison Pill) was in on the killings the whole time, or the whole family, or FBI profiler Josephine Grant (Mills, trapping parents left and right) was actually Cooper’s (Hartnett) mother… Or, I don’t know… The whole concert was populated by aliens. I applaud M. Night from moving on from this construction. Now if only I as a viewer could get out of the mode where I’m trying to second guess the plot as it unfurls. It’s the least I could do for him, but that would be the precise moment he drops a new twist ending on us.

Hartnett is the film’s real secret strength. Channeling the right amount of at-his-peak John Ritter, he feels perfectly harmless for the film’s opening act, and the performance increasingly makes him seem both terrifying and brilliant in the implementation of that terror.

And it’s good that Hartnett’s performance makes him seem smart, because the plot reflexively swings for lucky breaks as opposed to deserving—even in a sick sort of way—to get out of his predicament. It’s truly a merely serviceable screenplay that keeps this from being great.

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird

Have I Seen it Before: First opening weekend movie of the year.

Did I Like It: By the time I’m posting this review, the notion that Dave Bautista is the greatest actor to come out of the world of wrestling is going to feel like a cliche. The Rock may be the greatest movie star—even that much is debatable—but Bautista is a pillar (maybe really a tank) made of restraint and gentility (an odd choice for a horror film, but I’ll allow it), punctuated by fury and violence. It’s an absolute blalancing act of a performance, and he pulls it off. I’m imagining it won’t be for this film, based on the release schedule alone, but one day this man will win an Oscar one day. Mark my words.

The rest of the movie is fine. I was engaged with the story, and I wasn’t even snared in the classic M. Night “when’s the twist coming” cycle until the third act. Which, spoilers, that twist never came. Some might be put off by that (after reading about how the ending changed from Paul Tremblay’s novel, it’s unassailable that they made the right choice), but when a level-headed case can be made that Signs (2002) or The Visit (2015) are his strongest movies*, largely because he was able to shed that unspoken obligation with the moviegoing public.

Unfortunately, things fall apart for the movie the longer I’m away from it. The element I keep thinking about the most is not a significant lack of backstory or mythology (I actually kind of like that, even though there’s enough of an absence to make me wonder if Shyamalan or Tremblay had the whole thing worked out all the way) but the fact that I’m not sure any kind of live stream would keep recording after the tsunami reached land. When the plot is that thin, the holes show a bit more glaringly.

*I’ll never give up on Unbreakable (2000), even if things eventually careen towards Glass (2019).

Unbreakable (2000)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright-Penn, Spencer Treat Clark

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, man. It’s one of those key movie watching experiences of my life. It is the late fall of 2000. Florida is doing its very best to tear apart western civilization. I am sixteen and the notion that I can just go to the movies without having to concoct some kind of labyrinthine plan to physically get there* is a novel experience. Sure, the eventual twist ending (the first sign that Shyamalan would never be able to shake the need to include them) but at that moment, the film played me like a harp.

I spent the next several weeks insisting to anyone who would talk to me for longer than thirty seconds that they must go and see it. Many did; few liked it as much as I did, with the possible exception of Bill Fisher. We then spent the next two years trying to tap into the films vein in our own way.

Did I Like It: I may have tipped my hand a bitIt is, without a doubt, Shyamalan’s best film. Sure The Sixth Sense (1999) has its charms, Signs (2002) shows an unusual level of restraint, and Split (2017) is quite good (although it benefits highly from its connection to this film). But this is the purest, most direct version of what Shyamalan has to offer the movies.

It’s attempt at depicting a world where superheroes could be real dominated my imagination for a very long time. It’s story of a man coming to embrace the best parts of himself, which he had spent a lifetime trying to ignore is something that still sticks in my craw every time I watch it now. I would not be me without this movie.

I’d say something more about the film, but there’s very little chance any additional words would be equal to my feeling and esteem for it.

Glass (2019)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Anya Taylor-Joy

Have I Seen it Before: Oddly enough, there are parts of this movie I’ve absolutely seen before.

Did I Like It: I really want to. Desperately, even, and for the most part I think I’m right there. It might have helped if I had walked out about twenty minutes before the end.

A sequel to Shyamalan’s Unbreakable (2000) is one of those unattainable dreams in movies. Like a Star Wars sequel trilogy, or Patrick Stewart’s return to Star Trek, or a fourth Indiana Jones film…

Oh, wait.

They haven’t announced a Batman Beyond film starring Michael Keaton yet, have they?

Actually, the tale of how Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull (2008) came to be is what I think of most when I think of Shyamalan’s latest, Glass. For years, the first question the Indy team had to answer whenever they showed their faces was “When is the fourth movie going to come out?” Usually, the answer was a shrug. Then, after getting the question for 19 years, they finally “made good” on the “promise.” Say what you will, no one’s been asking for an Indiana Jones 5 after that.

So, to will it be with any future Unbreakable movies, and our lack of demand for more sequels, sadly, has little to do with the fact that most of the main characters are “dead” by the time the end credits roll around.

For 3/4ths of the movie, everything is grand. I’m eating a hot ham and cheese on a pretzel roll, drinking a glass* of beer, my wife is by my side, and Bruce Willis is protecting the streets of Philadelphia. All is well with the world.

Even when Willis’ Dunn, the Hoard (McAvoy), and Elijah “Mr. Glass” Price, are all stuck inside a mental asylum, the movie is filled with the mix of pulp philosophy and mind games that I would expect from such a movie.

And then our super powered comic characters break out of their respective prisons, and the roller coaster flies right off of its rails. The notion of a secret organization sworn to suppress super-normal activity, nor Glass’ mission to reveal the truth to the rest of the world is all well and fine. Unfortunately, the execution of that endgame is what leave me wanting. I’m sorry, Night. I wanted to believe you could stick the landing. Maybe its the natural tendency for the part three of a trilogy to be a letdown, but this isn’t working for me. 

There’s no catharsis. We are told to believe that superheroes are real and they could be anywhere, but anyone who might be a superhero is dead by the end of the film.

The ending also finds time to beggar all logic when it isn’t underwhelming. Why does this secret organization committed to snuffing out potential superheroes just kill their targets the moment they captured them? With only a few videos posted to youtube serving as the evidence of the extraordinary people, aren’t the Brothers of the Clover (my name for them, I guess, they’re jammed into the end of this movie all of a sudden) going to be able to spin their way out of this problem with a few well placed Fake News hashtags? And, not for nothing, it’s only about 85-90% clear that Dunn and Crumb are actually dead at the end. There’s no real indication they are alive either, just questions.

And maybe the questions are the point? Maybe the ambiguities will make the film age better on repeat viewings.

Maybe we’ll live to see David Dunn again.

So, when’s the fourth movie coming?

*Hey! That’s the name of the movie!

Split (2016)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, and (dun dun dun!) Bruce Willis

Have I Seen it Before: I thought I was done with M. Night for several years now. People said I needed to go see it.

Did I Like It: They were right.

The text of this review appeared previously in a blog post entitled “Surprise! On M. Night and his rebound.” published 02/05/2017.

NOTE: SIGNIFICANT SPOILERS FOR SHYAMALAN’S LATEST MOVIE, Split (2016) follow. Also, I’ll talk about significant spoilers for plenty of other movies including Arrival (2016), Midnight in Paris (2011), and Back to the Future (1985). However, if you haven’t seen Back to the Future, what in the absolute hell are you doing reading my blog? Go watch Back to the Future. I don’t even know what to do with you anymore. Have you watched it yet? Okay, now we can get on with the blog.

Surprises in movies are a rare thing.

I spent last week heralding the art form of the movie trailer, but movie previews do have the tendency to load up the prospective movie goer with too much information. Honestly, when was the last time you went into a movie and didn’t know nearly everything about what you were going to see? It’s a rare thing to be surprised by a movie.

The stories of the test screenings for Back to the Future are an interesting example of the opposite phenomenon. A California audience was brought into the screening and told nothing about the film that would follow, besides that Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd is in it. Could you imagine how that movie played without any additional information? It’s a light and breezy 80s teen comedy for the first half an hour, before the very fabric of the space-time continuum is up for grabs.

Surprise time-travel may be one of my favorite things in movies. Arrival does it well, and Midnight in Paris singlehandedly elevates the late Woody Allen catalogue based solely on the device.

Then Lora informed me that she had both a) been spoiled on Split’s surprise ending and b) I would love the ending.

I had been pretty cool on M. Night Shyamalan’s work in recent years. Since I guessed—and then immediately dismissed—the twist ending of The Village I’ve had the feeling that his work was going downhill pretty fast. The Visit (2015) was a return to form for him, but I felt like he may never reach the zenith of his output, Unbreakable (2000)…

More about that in a minute.

With Lora giving it her now-spoiled seal of approval, I thought only one thing could force my wife to guarantee that I would love the movie’s inevitable twist ending. McAvoy’s split personalities would somehow be tied to some bending or breaking of the rules of the fourth dimension. That’s fine, I guess, but I wasn’t sure how they could possibly fit such a plot development into the movie.

Turns out I was wrong, but Lora was right that I loved the twist that was in the movie.

Ever since Shyamalan completed Unbreakable, there have been whispers about a potential sequel. The principals involved were game, but the original box office receipts were tame, especially compared with the money explosion that was The Sixth Sense (1999). It seemed like an Unbreakable 2 would join the ranks of Ghostbusters 3*, The Rocketeer 2**, or the Star Wars sequel trilogy*** as things that were just never going to happen.

But the moment that McAvoy’s Kevin Wendell Crumb escapes authorities for one final discussion with himself and the supernatural beast that lies within, a very familiar James Newton Howard score begins to play. That can’t be right, I think. Then we cut to a diner, where a news report of the events of the film plays out. Someone mentions that it reminds them of that crazy terrorist in the wheelchair they captured fifteen years ago. No one remembers his name.

“Mr. Glass,” David Dunn replies, looking an awful lot like Bruce Willis. “They called him Mr. Glass.”

Boom. Credits.

I’m the only one laughing in the theater. Some fifteen-year-old in the front row who thinks he is the smartest entity currently alive cries out, “DID ANYBODY GET WHAT THAT WAS ABOUT?”

“YES!” I cry, happy to engage with someone who was likely too young to possibly understand what was happening.

“OKAY, SO WHAT HAPPENED?” the little shit retorted.

“GO WATCH UNBREAKABLE!” I tell him.

“OH, OKAY,” the little kid says. An unspoken “old man river” is appended to his dismissal.

My unbroken trend of wanting to get into shouting matches with strangers after movies conclude aside, I’m blown away by this movie. It’s a solid Hitchcockian-with-a-touch-of-the-supernatural yarn, something that by this point Shyamalan should be able to do quite well. 

But, as with all great twist endings, the final moments of the film make it something else: a surprise sequel to Unbreakable.

A. Surprise. Sequel.

Has that ever been done before? Dan Aykroyd shows up for a cameo—ostensibly as Ray Stanz—in Casper (1995) but that is more of a gag than a greater link to a larger mythos. Robert Downey Jr. reprises the role of Tony Stark for the first time in The Incredible Hulk (2008), but that little easter egg was well-advertised in the initial push to create hype around the then-embryonic Marcel Cinematic Universe…

But this? I legitimately don’t think anyone has ever made a surprise sequel before. Maybe I’m wrong. If I am, let me know in the comments. In the meantime, I’ll be watching my well-loved Unbreakable blu-ray and waiting patiently for the climactic showdown still to come between David Dunn/Everyman/Security Man and Kevin Wendell Crumb/The Beast/The Hoard.

*For the record, <I’m fine with the remake>, but that doesn’t diminish how much I would have enjoyed seeing another direct sequel with the players still all in there prime. Probably by 1995, that was never going to happen.

**Which might still happen! Believe!

***Wait, what?!