KNOCK AT THE CABIN

KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2022). Writer/director: M. Night Shyamalan. 

Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), a gay couple with a seven-year-old adopted daughter, Wen (Kristen Cui), are vacationing at a cabin in the woods when four strangers show up at their door and force their way in. These strangers include big, burly Leonard (Dave Bautista), black nurse Sabrina (Nikki Amuka-Bird), waitress Adriane (Abby Quinn), and felon Redmond (Rupert Grint). They tell the two fathers that the world with its seven billion inhabitants is about to end and that the only way to prevent this is for one of those two men to make the supreme sacrifice and kill the other. As they wait to make the decision, the other four violently end the life of one of their number one by one. News reports indicate that horrible things, including tidal waves, plagues, and airliners crashing by the dozens, are happening around the globe, but Andrew thinks the foursome knew about these occurrences in advance. And then Andrew remembers why Redmond looks familiar -- he was the very man who gay-bashed him in a bar and put him in the hospital over a decade before. Now even more suspicious of the whole story, Andrew tells Eric that they have been targeted by some homophobic nut cases, but Eric isn't so sure. 

Groff, Cui and Aldridge

Knock at the Cabin, based on the novel "The Cabin at the End of the World," is a typically twisty N. Night Shyamalan movie although this doesn't have the twist you might be hoping for. For most of its length the movie is totally absorbing, well-directed and very well-acted, and it keeps you in suspense as details are unveiled like peeling away at an onion. Are these four strangers utterly crazy, victimized by absurd conspiracy theories and massive misinformation, or is something fantastic and inexplicable actually occurring? Although the novel ends differently (based on a synopsis I've read), the movie is perhaps too literal, and in the long run doesn't make much sense. The film becomes lost in quasi-religious, metaphysical, pseudo-intellectual gobbledygook that poses more questions than it answers. I confess I'm never satisfied with these type of storylines and denouements, although others will undoubtedly feel differently. 

                             Bautista, Quinn, Amuka-Bird

Knock at the Cabin also stretches credulity in certain sequences (along with the very premise, of course). When the first of the foursome is murdered by the other three -- apparently this also must happen to prevent the apocalypse -- the two fathers have virtually no reaction. Why do these people who supposedly want to save the world allow a small child to be in the same room when this gruesome death occurs? And so on. At least the film gets points for diversity in its casting. Not only are the two main characters gay men, they are played by openly gay actors. Bravo to Shyamalan for that! -- although I admit I'm not crazy about certain aspects of the ending. The performances from the entire cast are on target, with a special nod to Bautista for a performance both sensitive and charismatic. 

Verdict: Quite arresting while you're watching it but it has no lasting resonance. **1/2.