Review: Knock At The Cabin

Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.

Director M. Night Shyamalan makes a familiar mistake in his latest, the (mostly) chamber piece "Knock at the Cabin," which sees the director once again thrusting a group of characters into a stressful and somewhat preposterous situation - this, of course, involves the fate of mankind - and posing the question of how one would handle such a situation.

There's an interesting setup to be had here - a gay couple, Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and their young daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui) - find their weekend at a secluded cabin somewhere in Pennsylvania disrupted when four individuals - second-grade teacher Leonard (Dave Bautista), a former ne'er-do-well (Rupert Grint), a nurse (Nikki Amuka-Bird), and a young mother (Abby Quinn) - show up at their door with some medieval weapons and say they're on an important mission.

The home invaders tell the trio that they have all had visions that the world will end if they - Eric, Andrew, and Wen, that is - don't decide which member of their family they will sacrifice to prevent this, and then carry out the horrific deed. The invaders note that they can't make the decision for them and will not perform the execution. In fact, they begin executing themselves each time the family fails to make a decision, which then seemingly causes disasters - tsunamis, planes falling out of skies, a plague - around the world, at least, according to the news.

Andrew (especially) and Eric (mostly) don't believe these assertions, and Andrew is convinced that the unpleasant visit has something to do with a hate crime perpetrated against them at a bar some years ago. In flashbacks, we see Eric and Andrew discussing their plans to adopt Wen, when a homophobe at the bar asks them to keep their voices down. Andrew basically tells the guy to piss off, and the man breaks a bottle over his head. Still scarred years later - and having developed a righteous sense of anger - he believes the invaders are some sort of fanatic religious group who targeted the couple out of homophobia.

It's easy to take Andrew and Eric's side - not only because they are the victims of home invaders, but also because the prophecies being foretold by the visitors sound nuts. And herein lies the problem with "Knock at the Cabin." Shyamalan often creates scenarios in which ordinary characters must make difficult decisions or find themselves up against powerful and unusual forces - and what tends to make these scenarios compelling (as in the case of "Signs," another secluded thriller that was extremely tense and well-crafted) is how these characters react to these challenges and which elements of their personalities ultimately make them a good fit for combatting them.

Shyamalan has never been shy about his faith - which is perfectly fine - and this often makes its way into his work. "Signs," for example, includes some of this toward its conclusion. In the case of that film, which is genuinely scary and much more thematically resonant, the faith-related issues are woven in in a manner in which it doesn't overtake the narrative. In more recent films - and especially "Knock at the Cabin" - Shyamalan has placed less emphasis on how his characters react to the scenarios in which they find themselves in, but rather on whether they believe what is taking place and, if so, how they will make their choices accordingly.

This, unfortunately in the case of this film, is significantly less interesting than how its lead characters - a gay couple, who are not typically the lead characters in a studio film of this type - react to the challenges they face. The flashbacks of the couple's relationship - and how the attack on Andrew informs his views on the home invasion - are way more interesting than whether Andrew and Eric can muster up the faith to believe that the world is ending or what Leonard and company tell them. And yet, the film aims to drive its suspense with this plot point.

Secondly, the film begins to get repetitive after the first of the invaders is killed by the others - which then unleashes the next of the plagues across the world. By this point, we know where the film is going - and it heads in exactly that direction. The only attempt at a plot twist - which is a Shyamalan signature - falls a little flat late in the film.

Shyamalan's early films - "The Sixth Sense," "Signs," and "Unbreakable" - were well-made, well-written, and thoughtful suspense films with a blockbuster mentality. A majority of his films since then - "Split" had its moments but otherwise had problems - have been misfires for various reasons. "Knock at the Cabin" falls somewhere in the middle of that company. It has its moments, but it focuses much of its attention on elements that aren't nearly as compelling as some of those it mostly ignores. The performances are fine - Bautista does a good job of making Leonard come off as both gentle and intimidating - and it moves quickly enough. But for those hoping for a long-awaited Shyamalan comeback, this isn't it.