Jeez, where to start? Like most people, I found the early works of M. Night Shayamalan to be original, delightfully innovative and supernaturally twisty. Like and The sad truth is that he apparently debuted at the peak of his powers, and it’s been pretty much downhill from there.
Like and And now we have this. I’d declare a spoiler alert if I weren’t so sure that after reading this you’ll give it a pass. The spoiler is actually the whole point of the story, and the Big Reveal comes early in the first act.
Whatever. Here it is: A serial killer dubbed “The Butcher” (a cringy Josh Hartnett) whose cover is a wholesome family man takes his teenage daughter to a pop diva concert (M. Night’s daughter Saleka, whose fake eyelashes make her look like she’s being attacked by face-eating spiders).
He figures he’ll be unidentifiable among the screaming crowds. But soon he becomes aware of a huge police presence and hears that they have received a tip and are questioning all middle-aged males leaving the arena (this is not even legal). OMG! It’s a trap! There ensues a cat-and-mouse game as he tries to find a way out without blowing his carefully constructed, good-guy cover.
I was gratified to see Hartnett in emerging from obscurity after an early stint as a teen matinee idol. But he’s going to have to aim a bit higher than this pseudo-suspense drivel if he wants to achieve a comeback. This is a really bad movie (and I don’t mean so-bad-it’s-good), maybe the direct.
