Knock at the Cabin

M. Night Shyamalan brings us another film filled with suspense and sociological dilemmas that delve deeper in to the thought-provoking experiments of the trolley problem. This is a fictional scenario where an individual must decide on the outcome of a trolley running over one person on the track versus five people on the other track. In theory, it would make the most sense to sacrifice one person in order to save as many people as you can... but what do you do if that one person is someone you love?

I went in to this film with very low expectations as I did not get the chance to look in to it before my initial viewing. Although it was not my favorite by any means, it was still something that kept my attention and left me curious as to what could possibly be the outcome of this scenario. The story itself felt slightly underdeveloped, and left something missing that I cannot quite place but the ending was done in a way that truly saved this film for me. The acting, the dialogue, and the story wrapped up nicely in a heartbreaking but beautiful performance from both Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge within the final few minutes, and we also had the privilege of seeing a very young but talented Kristen Cui, leaving plenty of emotions to be felt when the credits start rolling.

Overall, I do recommend seeing this movie - mostly with the hope that it might stir up some discussions with others regarding the ethical dilemma of personal sacrifices for the greater good... or just give you something to waste a couple of hours on... either way, maybe lower your expectations as this most likely will not be Shyamalan's next big thing.