It was bound to happen, but the embargo has lifted on M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin” and, much like Radio Raheem’s knuckles in “Do the Right Thing,” the reviews are split into two camps. Love and Hate.
On Rotten Tomatoes it’s at 71% fresh and on Metacritic it has a score of 62. What’s more intriguing is that, if you scroll through the reviews, those who like ‘Knock’ really like it, but those who dislike it, vehemently do so. I’m of the former camp, it’s probably Shyamalan’s best film since the early aughts.
The three-day box-office forecast for the film is said to be at around $23 million. Shyamalan still brings asses to seats, which is quite something considering his box-office clout started to diminish around the time of “The Lady in the Water,” it only picked back up with the success of 2016’s “Split.”
Speaking of early-aughts-Shyamalan, he was asked by THR about his 2000 gem “Unbreakable,” which many consider to be his masterpiece, and why its original reception was subpar:
It was a very polarizing movie, but I got used to that as just being a part of my career. What the polarization actually is is an unexpected story compared to what the audience was expecting: “I think it’s this, but it’s really that.” And in this case, marketing probably had something to do with it a little bit. “Hey, there’s another scary movie from the same guys who did The Sixth Sense,” which isn’t the case at all. So that began a really interesting understanding of the audience’s expectations, framing and how important marketing is. Ultimately, Unbreakable was very soon given a second chance, which was wonderful. But it’s a very dry, somber movie. It’s not a yuck fest, but I was in that darker place.
The best Shyamalan movies are 1999’s “The Sixth Sense” and 2000’s “Unbreakable.” The latter is indeed his best film. Probably the gutsiest and most improbable thing he’s ever done. “The Village,” although flawed, is another underrated work from him.