By Robert Ernest (@thatRobster | www.xgeeks.co.uk)
This review is spoiler-free.
M. Night Shyamalan returns with a tense, edge-of-your-seat thriller which may leave you questioning the meaning of life.
Knock at the Cabin delves straight into the story with Leonard (Dave Bautista) approaching 8-year-old, Wen (Kristen Cui) while she’s outside collecting grasshoppers. A friendly chat turns into something much more sinister when his pals turn up and he tells her that her family are going to have to make some tough decisions today. Wen is on vacation with her two dads, Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and one of the things this film does really well is portrayed as such a positive representation of a same-sex parent family, which avoids cliches and stereotypes. Ben Aldridge is particularly impressive throughout the whole film.
The characters are a huge draw and that’s quite an achievement when there’s minimal story build-up. It portrays good, normal, everyday people doing something horrific, believing it is for the benefit of humanity. This has to be one of my favourite performances from Dave Bautista as I found Leonard to be quite the paradox. This big, beefy guy would have you cowering if you ran into him late at night but he shows much generosity and compassion and we learn that his passion is impacting the lives of children at the school he works at. Leonard is on a mission with four accomplices, Redmond (Rupert Grint), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and Adriane (Abby Quinn) who have all come together after having different visions of natural disasters kickstarting the end of the world. They propose an impossible task for Eric and Andrew by asking them to sacrifice one of their family to die or watch the world crumble around them.
Obviously, to start with the answer is a big fat no. But as the story unravels, events cause Eric and Andrew to question their stance. I wouldn’t quite place this as a horror, but there really are high levels of tension and suspense (the scene with the shower curtain is shot sublimely) and I found myself engrossed from start to finish. However, in being so engrossed I did notice that it appeared to lack in blood and gore as its moments of brutality happened off-screen. Seeing these would have really amped things up and added to its appeal.
Based on Paul Tremblay’s 2018 novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, M. Night Shyamalan gives us some of his best work in recent years. Its apocalyptic theme mixed with dynamic characters and the worst kind of moral dilemma work so well together and make for an entertaining, albeit claustrophobic viewing experience with quite a satisfying ending.
What did you think of Knock at the Cabin? Let us know in the comments or find us on social media.
X-Geeks 