KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2023)

KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2023)

Tagline: Save your family or save humanity. Make the choice.

(Mystery, Thriller, Distrust) [R]

I will keep this review spoiler free keeping my comments to only what you can glean from the previews. First things first and I have harped on this for over a decade now or longer. Do not walk into a book expecting a movie; likewise, don’t walk into a movie expecting a book. That alone can damage your assessment and enjoyment of any movie or any book. These things are mutually exclusive and very very rarely if ever done shot for shot. That being said this is not “The Cabin at the End of the World”. It’s a movie with a similar premise and a similar name.

In this one, Eric and Andrew go to a cabin in the woods on vacation with their adopted daughter Wen. Wen is a curious young girl studying grasshoppers near the cabin when she runs into a kindly stranger named Leonard. It doesn’t take long before Wen realizes Leonard has a darker and more somber purpose for talking to her, than just being her friend. As his cohorts Redmond, Adriane, and Sabrina arrive; Eric, Andrew, and Wen are held hostage in the cabin and forced to make a choice. What they decide will determine the fate of mankind. 

One thing that really stands out in this is Dave Bautista’s performance. He plays Leonard in this and you can tell from the previews he is kind of the quasi-leader of this group. I think if anyone had doubts that Dave could act, this movie should dispel all that nonsense. This character is wildly different from his characters in GLASS ONION or GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Abby Quinn (TORN HEARTS) is solid in this as Adriane and I think she had a really good emotional range at the right times. She doesn’t over-act or under act in this thing. Nikki Amuka-Bird is extremely good as Sabrina and she is also a very underrated actress. If you get a chance, go watch THE OUTFIT before you see this movie and then you will get an idea of how much range Nikki has. I thought the rest of the cast was fine, but Rupert Grint playing Redmond does not only seem miscast, but his character doesn’t feel like he belongs in this movie at all. It also seems out of place that this character would have done what he does in this movie. I will just leave it at that. I really like Rupert Grint in other things. 

Cinematically this is really well shot and the score is near perfection for this type of movie. M. Night Shyamalan is a very hit-and-miss director that gets just a ton of flak from movie fans and critics alike, but his strengths are brought out in this thing and the delivery is spot on. This movie is labeled as “horror”, but I never got that vibe unless movies like JOHN WICK are "horror" for you. The film also pulls back on the gore which I really appreciated. 

The concepts are heavy in this thing and if you don’t have a Christian background, a LOT of this movie’s ideas are probably going to feel vastly different than if you do. This thing is very much a shadow of how the Bible approaches the truth of end times with a few expected secular twists. How this movie reflects that would be a spoiler, but I found it interesting because in the storytelling we get lots of interesting questions. I think it draws the line between the skeptic and the believer in a very definitive way. I have always been the type of person that takes something crazy someone says that seems impossible and takes that at face value. For instance, if you say there is a giant frog attacking Tokyo right now, I am going to accept that as being “true”. Then I think, okay, let’s look into that. Can we get someone from Tokyo on the internet or whatever and find out if there is a giant frog just wreaking havoc on the city. Is there a way to verify that? However, I always assume the person wouldn’t lie about something that nuts. I may not act on it or repeat it, but that is just how I approach things. The skeptic dismisses it right away because it doesn’t “logically” sound plausible. KNOCK AT THE CABIN explores these concepts in depth and I really liked that aspect of the film. 

If this had come out in the ’70s some of the “victimhood” social aspects would have been more applicable, but these days that aspect of the film not only felt out of place, it felt forced and didn’t add to this story. I think for a lot of people this is going to be a mixed bag. I found myself personally not rooting for one character in particular because they became the thing they hate. Having said that, I really appreciated the faith-based overtones and that this movie kind of comes with a warning not everyone is ready for. 

That person you might be calling a conspiracy nut…is probably right.

Because I have seen, and am not shocked by the impossible this gets a solid 5 out of 7 from me. If you are looking for everything to fit into a nice little “logic” basket, stick to more boring less finite thought challenging films.
 

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