‘Knock at the Cabin’ Review
Stars: Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Kristen Cui, Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn | Written by M. Night Shyamalan, Steve Desmond, Michael Sherman | Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
M.Night Shyamalan has, for the longest time now, been a very hit-and-miss director. His first big hit, The Sixth Sense was followed by an impressive run of two genuinely great movies. After that everyone has debated, what has been bad, what has been good, and what has been downright terrible. For me, he has never hit those early heights of The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. As of late his films seem to have hit a middle ground, nothing special, yet nothing partially that bad either, for me that’s where his latest film, Knock at the Cabin lands.
Knock at the Cabin follows a couple with their adopted daughter as their vacation is disturbed by a group of intruders, claiming they know the world will end. What follows is nothing partially all that tense, all that frightening, and for me not all that thrilling. Through the home invasion, and the rest of the scenes we get that follow this break-in, nothing ever had me on the edge of my seat, It was my biggest issue with M.Nights latest. The film started with so much potential when we meet, Wen (Kristen Cui), the young adopted daughter of Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge), as she meets Leonard (Dave Bautista). M.Nights choice of shots in this scene is excellent, we get a wonderful array of eerie close-ups that just don’t fully sit right. The close-ups make you feel uneasy, nervous, and start to put you on edge. You know something is about to happen, yet Leonard comes across so nice and warm that you want to trust him, want to like him, no matter how uneasy you feel. It’s a great opening that sets up the film’s title, Knock at the Cabin. Leonard is joined by Redmond (Rupert Grint), Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), and Adriane (Abby Quinn) as they try to gain entry to the cabin. At first with a pilot knock but as they are refused entry, a knock at the door is not quite enough.
From here the film plays out without any of that early uneasiness, and with no real thrills. My biggest issue with the film is there never felt like any real danger for the charters, despite the circumstances and the situation, I never felt that the stakes were that high, even despite what the intruders tell the family they are terrorising. This is no part on the family themselves. Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge are both brilliant in their roles and from the moment you meet them you sense a love that has been there for a long time. I instantly like them individually and as a couple. Their characters were well showcased and both unique, they feel real and fleshed out, yet I still never truly felt any danger for them. The way this plays out eventually lead me to take my emotions and feelings out of the film as the danger never felt like it was real, so whenever something eventually happened I was never on the edge of my seat, and never really cared.
It’s a strange film to come out of, as have so many of M.Nights films. His shot selection has always been great but here I really enjoyed everything he decided to do, yet he could never get me to feel any suspense. I don’t think this is his fault, I think a lot of this comes down to the screenplay and I feel some of the flashback scenes we get, showing Eric and Andrews’s early relationship, could have been removed. We already like these characters without their back story. For me what the film was really missing was that suspense. Perhaps some scenes could have been added instead to help build this suspense better. Even though there was a direct conflict between the characters, it never came through, I never felt the conflict between them could lead to anything, again, despite what the characters are told and shown.
In the end, there was enough here to have some enjoyment with this. The cast are all great, in particular Ben Aldridge, Jonathan Groff, and Dave Bautista, who is proving more and more he’s the best actor to come from the pro wrestling background. My main takeaway is it was just missing something more, something thrilling, something suspenseful that could take this from your standard thriller to something more special.
*** 3/5
Knock at the Cabin is in UK cinemas now.
