‘Knock at the Cabin’ Review: M. Night Shyamalan’s Latest Isn’t Worth Answering the Door
01.02.2023 - 23:59
/ thewrap.com
At the heart of M. Night Shyamalan’s new thriller “Knock at the Cabin” there is a disturbing question that has only two terrible answers. Unfortunately, the answers aren’t just terrible for the characters, they’re terrible for the audience as well.
Because whichever direction this film goes in it’s running headlong into a brick wall, with no brakes.Based on the novel “Cabin at the End of the World” by Paul G. Tremblay, “Knock at the Cabin” stars Jonathan Groff (“The Matrix Resurrections”) and Ben Aldridge (“Spoiler Alert”) as Eric and Andrew, two gay dads on vacation at a cabin in the woods — always a mistake — with their adopted daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui). All is well.
All is loving. Nothing bad could possibly happen.Suddenly, they are visited by four mysterious strangers, led by the gigantic yet soft-voiced Leonard (Dave Bautista, “Glass Onion”), who are ever so kind and thoughtful. Except they’ve brought handmade medieval weaponry with them and they demand to be let inside.
Before long, Eric and Andrew are tied to their chairs, Eric is concussed, and Leonard lays out the premise for the day.It turns out that Leonard and his associates, Redmond (Rupert Grint, “Servant”), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird, “Persuasion”) and Adriane (Abby Quinn, “Torn Hearts”) have had a shared vision of the end of the world, and they believe the only way to stop it is if Eric, Andrew and Wen make a decision to kill one member of their family. They can’t kill themselves and nobody else can commit the murder for them. And every time Leonard asks, if they refuse, something very traumatic will happen to the world.“Knock at the Cabin” has a premise that demands ambiguity to work in the slightest, because once Shyamalan tips his hat the story is
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