THE VISIT
M. Night Shyamalan is back with his latest thriller, The Visit. It’s a very basic premise. Two grandchildren, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) spend a week with their estranged grandparents (Deanna Dunagan and Peter McRobbie) Everything starts off great but as the week goes on, their grandparents’ behaviour gets stranger and stranger and the kids just want to go home. But will they ever make it back?
The film is told through the lens of the childrens’ cameras, as older sister, Becca, is making a documentary about her mum (Kathryn Hahn), and the reason she became estranged from her own parents. Don’t let that put you off though, as there’s not too much shaky camera moments in this film, so, instead of giving you a headache, Shyamalan has successfully created an intimate relationship between his protagonists and the audience.
In true Shyamalan style, this film has a twist. He is the master of the twist – most famously and best done in The Sixth Sense. If you don’t guess the twist and are shocked by it when it is revealed I think you will enjoy this film. The problem is, if you guess it early, as happened to me (well I didn’t really figure it out, the mate I was with didand told me what it was 15 minutes into the film) it will affect the enjoyment of this film.
Shyamalan claims that this is the scariest film he has ever made. I am the biggest woos I know, and don’t usually go to horrors because I can’t sleep for weeks afterwards. That said, I did not find this film scary at all. I jumped once and found it more creepy – in a bad way - than scary. I had more eye rolls at scenes than freak outs. Again, I think this was all down to the fact that the twist had been revealed to me so early on in the film. So, instead of being in constant suspense and on the edge of my seat, I found this film to be boring and silly and couldn’t wait for it to be over.
I don’t think this will be the film that puts Shyamalan back in everyone’s good books. With any luck, it will be the next thriller he is about to start filming with Joaquin Phoenix.
The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials
The Gladers are out of the Maze and back for more in this second installment of The Maze Runner franchise, Scorch Trials.
The Gladers thought all would be good after they escaped but they couldn’t be further from the truth. The danger is ever more present and real. Who can they really trust? Not only are they on the run from WCKD but they must also fight off the zombie like Kranks as they make their way to the resistance fighters, who will hopefully help them take down WCKD.
Although Director, Wes Ball, goes to great lengths to distance this film from other Young Adult films, there is no doubt that it falls into this category. Like it’s contemporaries, The Hunger Games and Divergent, a generation of young people have been wronged by their elders in a world that is falling apart, and it is left to them to right these wrongs.
The film is filled with action from word go. There’s lots of running, jumping, fighting, and screaming. So much so that as a viewer, there are times you are exhausted just watching it all!
Don’t just expect action; be prepared for gore and jumps, thanks to the Kranks. Gross looking zombie like creatures that many, but not all of the Gladers, are immune from turning into, thanks to their time in the Glade.
This series, while not as strong as The Hunger Games, is much better than the Divergent films. This is largely due to its strong young cast lead by Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf) and supported by the likes of Kaya Scodelario (Skins and one of the leads in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Love Actually) and Ki Hong Lee (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). Also, doing a stellar job are the always reliable and fantastic, Aidan Gillen and Patricia Clarkson.
The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials exceeds it’s run time by at least 20 minutes. However, if you’re a fan of this genre, you will be happy enough to go on this adventure with the Gladers just so you can see where it will all end up in the next and final installment of this franchise, The Death Cure.
