SPEAK NO EVIL (2024)

 

Written & Directed By James Watkins 

Based on a screenplay by: Christian Tafdrup & Mads Tafdrup

Cinematography: Tim Maurice Jones and Mark Moriarty 

Editor: Jon Harris 

Cast: James McAvoy, Scoot Mcnairy, Mackenzie Davis, Aisling Franciosi 

A family is invited to spend a whole weekend in a lonely home in the countryside, but as the weekend progresses, they realize that a dark side lies within the family who invited them.

I will admit I didn’t go into this too happily as the trailer pretty much gives away everything 

Luckily, I had seen the original already and was a fan of it so not sure when I learned of the remake though was wondering how they would approach the material.

it’s been Americanized not so much remade maybe rebooted a remix that doesn’t so much as improve, but simplifies. 

Yes, luckily it gives the family at the center, who are the victims. A better chance as well as more to do. At least they strike back unlike the original where you Wonder, why they kept taking what they were dealing with?

Then again film has different reasonings. The original is more of a dark comedy with thriller elements. That is all about societal rules, civility, politeness, and social rules. where this is a more by-the-books thriller, that is intimate and claustrophobic in plain sight

It loses what made the original story, so interesting in the first place. Almost like it’s been defanged to make a more audience, friendly film that tries to add active brutality as its final stamp of shock

There is nothing wrong with that it just feels like water down and feels like it belongs. I don’t feel like they belong to one another, but not originally enough to still form. It’s its own identity.

Though to be truthful, if I had never seen the original, this film wouldn’t be that interesting. It would’ve seemed more like an original thriller that wasn’t anything, in particular, to write home about and feels typical. 

As the original is dark and uncompromising. The true standout stand out of this film is James McAvoy‘s performance where you can only wish the film matched his intensity and performance as it deserves a better showcase and makes me wonder if that is why most audiences give this film high praise so much it

It might also be that it’s rare these days that film of this genre is of superior quality so that sometimes they are over-praised then if the market was flooded with films that matched the quality

GRADE: C+