The real twist here is that for more than a decade M. Night Shyamalan has built up a beautiful fecal mountain of great terrible movies, then marketed The Visit as possibly the holy apex of said ****-mountain, and somehow the movie turned out to be his non-ironic best since the days his name wasn't considered a joke. I feel like every movie he's released since Signs has been a piece of performance art leading to this ultimate mind bending twist ending where the movie with the worst trailers possibly ever turned out to be decent.
Bravo, Mr. Shyamalan.
The real key here is that Shyamalan has finally shed the comically serious attitude all his movies have had to this point. The Village, The Happening, Devil; they were all ironic comedy gems because the tone was so serious but what you saw on screen was an absolute joke. This movie incorporates a lot of intentional comedy that has you laughing WITH the characters rather than at them. The dialogue is Shyamalan's best probably ever. So you bond with the characters and enjoy yourself. Then when the suspenseful moments come, you are surprised that you actually care about the characters and the suspense is working. The twist was obvious and you could forecast it a mile out, but with Shyamalan you can't really avoid that.
Overall, it's no masterpiece of course, but as an ironic Shyamalan lover over the past 10 or so years, I can confirm that I actually agree with his non ironic fans who are calling this his return to form. The trailers are extremely misleading and the movie is nowhere near as ridiculous as the "Get in the oven" trailers would have you believe. Solid 7/10.
Bravo, Mr. Shyamalan.
The real key here is that Shyamalan has finally shed the comically serious attitude all his movies have had to this point. The Village, The Happening, Devil; they were all ironic comedy gems because the tone was so serious but what you saw on screen was an absolute joke. This movie incorporates a lot of intentional comedy that has you laughing WITH the characters rather than at them. The dialogue is Shyamalan's best probably ever. So you bond with the characters and enjoy yourself. Then when the suspenseful moments come, you are surprised that you actually care about the characters and the suspense is working. The twist was obvious and you could forecast it a mile out, but with Shyamalan you can't really avoid that.
Overall, it's no masterpiece of course, but as an ironic Shyamalan lover over the past 10 or so years, I can confirm that I actually agree with his non ironic fans who are calling this his return to form. The trailers are extremely misleading and the movie is nowhere near as ridiculous as the "Get in the oven" trailers would have you believe. Solid 7/10.