(2021 Universal Pictures)

★★☆☆☆

By HOWARD McQUITTER

M. Night Shyamalan  is up to another one of his  “prize” thrillers that simply doesn’t add up to a hill of beans. I often say I’ll go for the ride with a movie if it lacks in major areas, but with OldI just wanted to not even get on the ride. Back in 2002, with his film The Sixth Sense(his first actual film is Wide Awake in 1998),the public was in awe of  starring actors Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg, and Glenn Fitzgerald. Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense, indeed a sensation, drew viewers from word of mouth as well as by advertisement. 

     Old is the movie that should have never left the drawing board. At first, about a dozen tourists are told about an isolated “paradise” island which is supposed to be the ideal vacation spot. Strange things begin to happen when the tourists arrive. A woman’s body washes ashore and just minutes later a man named Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre) runs over to the tourists pleading he had nothing to do with the woman’s death. Do we believe him or not? It’s likely he’s innocent. But guess what? The Capas’ daughter Maddox,11, begins to age

rapidly without explanation.

    Guy Cappa (Gael Garcìa Bernal) and Prisca Cappa (Vicky Krieps from Phantom Thread [2017]) are about to divorce, but before they do, they go on a vacation with plans to tell the kids about the break-up after the trip.Their other child, Trent, is six years old. Like a virus in the air the tourists begin to age rapidly with no safe way off the island. With a clumsy onset, what follows tumbles downhill and stays there.

    One of the only things that may come across in Old is the society we live in has an obsession with getting old. Getting old, of course, has its challenges and its blessings. Shyamalan’s Old is a bummer. That in itself is old. Like his Lady in the Water (2006),  Old fails to hold strong interest.

Cast:Gael Garcia Bernal (Guy),Vicky Krieps (Prisca), Rufus Sewell (Charles), Ken Leung (Jarin), Alex Wolff (Trent), Abbey Lee (Christal), Nikki Amuka Bird (Patricia), Eliza Scanlen (Kara age 15), Kathleen Chalfant (Agnes), Gustaf Hammarsten (Resort Manager), Thomasin McKenzie (Maddox age 16), Embeth Davidtz (Adult Maddox), Aaron Pierre (Mid-Sized Sedan), Alexa Swinton (Maddox Age 11), Nolan River (Trent age 6).

Running time: 108 minutes. Director: M. Night Shyamalan, (PG-13).

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