Old (2021) User Reviews

Interesting Concept, Uninteresting Execution

[CinemaClown · 10 October 2021]

The latest madcap offering from the filmmaker who has made a career out of coming up with truly insane & ambitious ideas over the years (whether he is able to make them work or not in execution being a whole another debate), Old finds the (in)famous writer-director once again experimenting with a crazy concept but the end result is a mixed bag as the film fails to make the most of what was up for grabs.

Written & directed by M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, The Village & The Visit), the story follows a group of tourists who find themselves ageing rapidly on a mysterious & secluded beach. With a lifetime passing in the matter of a single day for all the involved characters, the possibilities worth exploring are endless. However, Shyamalan's erratic direction & bland characterisation prevent the key events to blossom to their full capacity.

There are nonetheless hints of brilliance scattered throughout the picture. It just never unifies into a satisfying whole. The rapid ageing & its debilitating effects is rather unsettling to watch but then the dialogues & performances are so idiotic & over-the-top that we aren't really sure what tone Shyamalan was going for. The film is silly yet serious, fun yet terrifying, thrilling yet amusing, ludicrous yet genius, and is often a cinematic ride of sharp contrasts.

Overall, Old features a premise that not only exhibits promise & potential on paper but is also instantly appealing & downright ambitious. Still, Shyamalan is unable to explore his zany idea to its fullest by failing to weave a compelling narrative around it, thus resulting in a frustrating & confusing experience. He tries to do too much yet only ends up doing too little. All in all, Old has its merits & moments but the ride as a whole feels more or less underwhelming in the end.

At least its original

[dickchenny · 6/10 · 6 August 2021]

What to watch? The new gi joe? How about f9? No I think we will settle for old.

This movie is unlike any movie I've ever seen, the acting is strange, the plot is strange, the camera work is nauseating at times. And some of the reveals are not done amazingly.

But at least its original, the plot makes sense, and when talking about it to my friends I found I always had the proper answer for peoples actions and decision making.

The best characters are midsized sidan and the crazy doctor and his wife.

The movie has many scenes of exposition that is not hid very well, but overall I think its a movie that begs being seen. I in no way regret watching it and in fact want to watch it again to solidify my opinion .

In a time with a lot of movies that you have already seen I guarantee that love it or hate it, you haven't seen anything like it.

An enjoyable movie.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 28 July 2021]

I have read several really bad reviews about this film, and the last film or two I watched from Shyamalan were average at best, but there was something about this film that I did enjoy.

It flew by, it wasn't slow or dull, nor was it particularly scary, instead it relies on the primal fears many have (self included) about the ageing process, and the passing of time, if you are someone who has the slightest worry of time passing, this will resonate.

The location work is awesome, and the production values are superb. Great acting throughout, it's always great to see Rufus Sewell's cheekbones.

Not sure if it was my ears, but I found some of the dialogue a little muffled at times.

All in all, this was good, 7/10.

Insulting

[noawareness · 1/10 · 18 October 2021]

The camera angles, the acting, the story, the directing, the writing, the effects... Completely insulting, to the point where I genuinely feel like it would be an enormous effort to make something this bad. It felt like a joke. One of the character is called Mid-sized Sedan...

I would pay zero attention to the low rating and bad reviews.

[deloudelouvain · 9/10 · 19 January 2022]

When I saw the ridiculously low rating it got on here I was already suspecting I was going to like this movie. It's not the first time this happens and I'm sure it won't be the last time. I must have a really bad taste in movies (and so does my wife apparently). When I saw the director was M. Night Shyamalan I really doubted this movie was going to be that bad, like the hate reviewers tried to convince the rest. In my eyes M. Night Shyamalan knows what he's doing, making most of the time interesting movies with a captivating story. Old isn't different, in fact I thought it was one of his better ones. Intriguing plot, nice build-up, good acting and cinematography, and a more than decent and surprising ending. I really can't fault anything in Old. So yes, once again I have to totally disagree with the people that thought this movie was bad, it's quite the opposite and I'm glad there are other people that can enjoy a good movie like me without having the urge to bash it for no reason.

An often profound, sometimes stupid, but ultimately original thriller.

[benjaminskylerhill · 6/10 · 23 July 2021]

If you knew you were to die today, what would you wish to change about the way you lived your life?

This is one of the themes Shyamalan explores in this astutely-directed, mostly tense, high-concept thriller, and it does result in some genuinely intelligent, emotionally resonant character beats that I did not expect.

Unfortunately, some clunky dialogue, a couple bad actors, and too many repetitive scenes that seem to only stretch the runtime prevent this from being the great film that it could have been.

Live Every Day as if it's Your Last...

[Xstal · 6/10 · 10 October 2021]

... and select every film you watch accordingly. Because you never know when you might get the chance to visit Fantasy Island (not the one in Skegness) and live your life like Ben Button, but a bit faster and in reverse. Not the worst film from the genre and would have been a cult classic if made as a 'B' Movie in the 1950s.

I really wish I could give negative stars...

[gonzalezarria · 25 July 2021]

One of the worst films I have watched in recent years. It has a very good concept, but it was just overwhelming overshadowed by horrible acting and a very lousy script.

I usually never write reviews, but this film forced me to write this as a warning message: please don't watch it.

Interesting, Different From Most Movies Being Made Today

[cagebox111 · 7/10 · 9 August 2021]

A strange movie that certainly has many flaws but still one that makes you think. There is some cringy child acting and some of the horror (the broken bones lady) is over the top, but it's an original story that holds your interest for the runtime of the film. Not one of Shyamalan's best but it's a pretty good film and one that is at the very least different from the endless action flicks that are produced these days.

A Cool Concept that Goes Nowhere

[kjproulx · 3/10 · 4 August 2021]

M. Night Shyamalan has been a director I have admired, but have only connected with a couple of times. Nearly every movie buff praises his film The Sixth Sense as his best, and rightfully so. It's definitely up there for me, but his grounded work with Unbreakable is truly his crown jewel to me. He then had his string of blockbusters like The Last Airbender, After Earth, and The Happening. This is when everyone began to realize his heydays were over. With that said, his return with The Visit, Split, and Glass were all very commendable. For that reason alone, I had some newfound excitement for his next project. Old is now playing in theatres and here are my honest thoughts on what is easily one of Shyamalan's worst films.

The concept of this film is quite simple. A family on vacation is invited to a secret beach for relaxation. Joined by a few others, everyone realizes that there is more to this location than meets the eye. As they all begin to rapidly age, their children are now teenagers within hours and some of their health conditions also rapidly return. The first act of this film is very intriguing and it had me hooked, aside from the terrible dialogue. Even though the idea hooked me though, this is the prime example of a film that has a cool idea and never does anything with it.

It was at about the halfway mark that I started wondering where this film was truly going because it never felt like it was building to anything. Yes, the mystery of this beach looms over the entire film, but again, the script never dives deep enough to really care about the events on-screen. On top of the fact that the script needed a lot of work in terms of plotting, the dialogue is also atrocious from beginning to end. I understood the fact that these actors had to act as if they were still young children, but none of what they were saying was either believable for that age or it ended up being too cheesy.

One of my biggest problems with any film that sets itself up with a crazy concept is that it needs to focus on delivering at least some answers for its audience. A film that remains ambiguous can be amazing if the characters and story are all great enough to make that not important. Sadly, Old falls into the category of a film that delivers answers while also not really giving you enough to understand. I completely understood the point behind how the film concluded, but it was also quite dumb. Again, this is coming from someone who will always give an M. Night Shyamalan film the benefit of the doubt.

In the end, Old has a few scenes that I really enjoyed. One scene in particular that I really latched onto was one that involved an elderly couple with dementia, but once again, I instantly forgot about it because it was poorly written. If this concept had been sold to someone else to write and direct, I feel like the reception of this film would've been much higher. It's a very neat idea that goes nowhere and the experience almost felt completely pointless to me. Still, I'll give some minor compliments to the overall concept and a couple of noteworthy scenes. Other than that, Old is easily one of the worst films I've seen in 2021.

Good, not great

[ashley-42155 · 6/10 · 30 July 2021]

I personally think people are being too hard on this movie. It may not be the best from Shyamalan but it kept me entertained the whole way through and had an intriguing and original enough premise to keep me invested. I thought the acting was good and the writing was fine. The dialogue was maybe unnatural at times but overall didn't bother me. I do wish that the reasoning behind it all was a little deeper and more thought through. Seemed a little surface level to me, especially coming from Shyamalan. Overall, good but not great movie. Certainly doesn't deserve a 1/10.

Interesting premise, poorly executed.

[mrjeffmoore · 4/10 · 25 July 2021]

This movie will definitely be polarizing. I find myself on the "meh" side of this movie. It was interesting and somewhat original, but as it progressed I found myself giggling and sometimes donwright laughing instead of feeling scared or intrigued in any way. I'm not sure if he intended this movie to be funny, but some of it was just silly. Some of the acting was pretty bad and over the top, and the ending was a huge letdown. It was not horrible, but I wouldn't watch it again. I mean, I've even rewathed The Village and Signs, and lots of people hated those. This one is definitely a one and done.

Help me, help ... others

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 2 August 2021]

It's funny that I read so much about a "return" of M. Night .. I thought his last movie had that covered. But then again, that was a few years ago, so maybe some already forgotten about that or he vanished again for them.

Having said that, you have to suspend your disbelief in many regards and there still may be things that you have to swallow and not liking them. One of the biggest things I had issues with is the wife of "Guy". It's not so much her accent (others have one too), it is that she does not convey most of the feelings her character is going through. I understand those things, but not because of her performance, rather despite it. You may see it differently and just because I didn't like her performance here, I am not alleging that she can't act. Maybe it is a fish out of water situation - no pun intended.

And then there are small things, like when the rapper uncovers ... I think it is in the trailer, but let's just say somethng truly horrific. M. Night should have taken a look at the behind the scenes material of Jaws. Spielberg had a similar scene where the boyfriend of the girl that goes skinny dipping, finds her the next morning with the Sheriff. His reaction to the finding was never satisfactory ... and the same can be said about the scene on hand here. So I am not blaming the actor - it is just a rather "impossible" thing to achieve. I almost started laughing at the scene - very inappropriate I know.

And yet still you will say, why a 7? Because through all those things that I might find disturbing and did not like, I was able to suspend my disbelief and was able to enjoy the idea this movie is based on. I personally am surprised there are so many Youtube videos "explaining" the "twist" ending ... I do think it could not be clearer ... and I dig it overall.

Of course there are themes of aging, about what our journey is, about family and other things. It's philosophical at its core - what you make of it, is totally up to you of course. But because it is Shyamalan you also will get scenes, that some may have problems with visually (shock effect wise). Think top model (I like her craziness, in the context of the movie, same is true about her husband and doctor) and you'll know what I mean by the end of ... it! Pun maybe intended.

Is this predictable? Yes. Dialog and performances sometimes cringe-worthy? Also yes ... fight through it and just enjoy this for what it is. A thriller with a "message" (or two)

Messy direction

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 7 March 2022]

OLD (2021) is another M. Night Shyamalan film spoilt by his over the top direction. I love THE SIXTH SENSE and there are others in his filmography I like too, but he seems to miss more often than he hits. This one tells the story of a cursed beach that causes anyone who visits it to age rapidly, and it's a neat premise that would have worked well in an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE or somesuch. But in Shyamalan's hands this is a mess, with awkward and stilted performances, too many uninteresting characters standing around and chatting or just doing nothing, and a "twist" ending only included because the running time comes up short. As for the "inventive", anything-goes camerawork...give me a break!

Does the end justify the means? A very good movie.

[terrybest-02670 · 8/10 · 24 March 2022]

I started watching this movie purely by accident. A nice surprise. There are no perfect movies. There are great movies, good movies, okay movies, bad movies and very bad movies. These categories can depend on the person viewing the movie. This was a good movie that though maybe a little too long the ending made it a very good movie for me. Science can be cold and unfeeling when only the facts matter. But this is also a study of human nature and how a group of people would respond to a very weird situation. Well directed and acted, especially the children changing from kids to adults was very believable. How would we react if our life span was suddenly compressed into a day and medical and psychological issues presented in hours instead of years. The ending instead of being a twist made a lot of sense . No evil just scientists doing science and justifying their actions by the good that came from those actions. For me the ending made this go from just a good movie to a very good movie. Do not let the accents throw you there is a great big world out there.

Another strange Shyamalan special that's sure to be polarizing on many levels to the point where his esoteric ambitious brilliance is often misunderstood by the masses.

[tresm87 · 7/10 · 22 July 2021]

Love him or hate him, his ideas and films get people talking regardless. The concept of age and time can be perplexing and M. Night puts his bizarrely disturbing spin on it with striking visuals and emotional power throughout. The story works solidly with decent acting but it's those signature Shymalan twists that once again make this a must see. Intriguing settings and scenery amplify the overall presentation and the cgi use is frighteningly brilliant. While there are some cliche moments strung about they're never overwhelming, and the craziness never seems too extravagant like some of M. Night's misses. Overall it' makes for another solid entry in Shyamalan's filmography.

Something's missing

[Gordon-11 · 22 September 2021]

The story is interesting, but there's not enough suspense. There's something missing.

Contrived plot

[devinderbonding · 6/10 · 21 September 2021]

Interesting premise with a contrived letdown of a finale. The film does keep you engaged--just that I was expecting so much more from Shyamalan.

Not sure what movie these 1 star reviewers saw...

[mnholmes-99272 · 7/10 · 7 August 2021]

But it wasn't the movie I just watched. Was it my favorite movie from M Night? Probably not, but it definitely isn't the worst film ever made like these reviews make it out to be. I thought the acting was very good, especially considering that each actor is playing someone with a specific condition at so many different stages in their life. It was thought provoking and had lots of twists, exactly what people can expect from a typical M Night film. I found several of the characters incredibly interesting, especially the child that everyone keeps calling "annoying." He made me laugh constantly during his scenes! If people really wanted to walk out of the movie theater at this movie, maybe they should stop spending money at the movie theater, because they must apparently not stay for much of anything. Nothing about this movie ever made me consider leaving. I enjoyed every moment of it.

Decent Concept, Horrible Execution

[MamadNobari97 · 1/10 · 22 September 2021]

There's literally nothing redeeming about this movie.

First of all, what are these dialogues? Who wrote them? They are so bad that even DiCaprio would get Razzies for them, they're awful. I literally had to pause at one point to laugh for 10 seconds straight at the dialogue.

Secondly, I don't want to to be rude to the cast, but who casted them seriously? Half of them sound like they just learned to speak English yesterday. Granted the dialogues are atrocious and anyone would seem like a terrible actor reading them, but the actors still seemed really bad to me. And yes, my own English speaking isn't very good and I'm not even half as good of a speaker as them, but I'm also not an actor working on a movie.

How can a director who made Split and got that amazing performance of James McAvoy, have these terrible acting in his movie? I still largely blame the abysmal writing and dialogue, but the acting was still bad.

The camera work was also really weird and I don't know wtf they were thinking with some of the pointless "shoot the actors, then pan to the rock wall then go back to the actors again." NOTHING HAPPENED when the camera panned to them again, they didn't even age, WTF was the point then?

Also since when did aging become synonymous with better medicine? Is that what's stopping the medical industry from making breakthroughs and curing diseases? REALLY?

This movie is a total joke, the direction is a joke, the acting is a joke, camerawork is a joke, the writing and dialogue is out of this world (by that I mean from the trash planet in Thor Ragnarok).

Watch is for the Lols.

What the hell M. Night?

[AdrenalinDragon · 2/10 · 23 July 2021]

Is Old a Comedy? Am I supposed to take this seriously? The performances are usually either weird or terrible, and it has some of the worst dialogue and line delivery I've ever heard. None of the Aging gimmick makes sense and just ends up delivering unintentionally funny moments. There's no good reason to care about any character here. It's all done so poorly.

The camerawork is terrible in places where the shots are out of focus and many faces and objects are poorly positioned, plus M. Night kept doing long spinning camera shots over and over again. Why? No idea felt pretentious to me. Simply awful, and there was me hoping M. Night was making his big comeback, but this was more on The Happening side of things.

2/10.

Cool Theme Conveyance

[nairtejas · 6/10 · 26 September 2021]

I liked Old not for its horror elements (at least the very little that it has) but for its themes about aging and regrets in life, something that hit home. There may be several flaws with this weird drama but the central theme of how we take life lightly when we are aging slowly really stayed with me. Recommended.

Pretty interesting premise

[tefy22 · 9/10 · 22 July 2021]

With the present times everything feels so slow yet so fast. Its unique and interesting. He's making movies no one else is (remakes and 10000 super hero/fast and furious movies)

Amateur hour soon gets old...(after 10 mins)

[omendata · 4/10 · 2 October 2021]

Dreadfully dull acting, story that soon becomes stale and is badly paced with a truly contrived ending replete with so many logical inconsistencies. M. Shyamalan produces yet another turkey (and its not even Christmas yet).

Not even worth reviewing in depth, just do not waste your time on this as it is dreadfully dull and poorly acted with no redeeming features whatsoever and has actually been done before in another 1980's movie whose name eludes me for now and it was far, far better and done on 1/100th of the budget too!

Thrilling experience but poorly executed

[arsalanweb · 6/10 · 18 September 2021]

I absolutely like the idea, it was new and unique so much thriller and confusing scenes but got bored after an hour because its just repeating the concept, I don't know I think this movie could be more fun if something more interesting stuff could have been added.