Movie review- 2023 Knock At the Cabin

"While vacationing at a remote cabin in the woods, a young girl and her parents are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand they make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse. Confused, scared and with limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what they believe before all is lost." Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

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I watched this movie on 2/5/23, in theatres. Before I saw it, all the info I had on it came from ads, and the description. Though, I feel that the ads definitely don't tell you enough about the movies plot. From the ads alone, I thought it would be something like 'The Strangers', a cult paranormal intruder like story. (Wasn't totally off, but still! Not what I was expecting.) Plus, some of the ads are extremely vague. Just a little girl screaming, flashing screens, critic ratings, and a quote isn't enough to tell the audience what the movie is actually about. 

I'd rate the movie 7/10. It was good, just not the best, nor what I was expecting it to be. I've never watched a movie directed by Shyamalan, and I've heard reviews that a lot of his movies are like this.  I liked the plot and premise, the way the group presents themselves as seemingly normal people despite appearing irrational and cultish in the beginning, the conflicting beliefs between the couple, and ~some~ of the acting. I liked some of the flashback scenes with the couple though, it kind of help the viewer like the cast and feel for them more. I truly think that there's a ton of room for improvement in the movie, and I could bump up the rating to a 9 if there was changes. 

Some things I did not like in the movie includes the other half of the acting (lol), I felt that some of it was just not believable enough to really fit into the situation, or seems like they tried to add in "humor" bits, but it was just more annoying than actually funny. I feel that some tweaking of the script or voice affliction changes can make it a bit better. I also didn't like that they seemed too shy to show gore. In a movie with that type of plot, 'An apocalypse will rise if your family doesn't make a sacrifice for the sake of humanity', they'd show atleast some effort with gore. I'd rather them not even make an effort to show any, than try to show it yet shy away from it. My guess is they skipped it somewhat for the sake of budget reasons or trying to keep the movie rated-R, but still. -_- A minor thing, But I also dislike the way the screen goes 'wide' when there's no characters on screen and its blurred. Just bugs me a bit, not necessarily enough to make me knock it down in the ratings. I especially *HATE* the quick, "happily ever after" ending. With a plot like this, it could've had such an incredible, keep the viewers thinking type of ending. But no.. This especially made me knock down the rating a few points. The movie would've been so much better without the cheap ending. 

In all, the movie wasn't my all time favorite but it is still a good movie, just wish it was a bit different than it actually was in presentation. (P.S, Is it just me or does Adriane look like Ben Shapiros sister? lol.)