Pamela Murray

* Contains spoilers * After seeing the first trailer I was so looking forward to seeing this, and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. On the whole I like M. Night Shyamalan's films, but there have been a couple which I feel have missed the mark - The Village is the one that springs to mind first. Out of all of his, I think Unbreakable is his finest, and for that reason I really should have liked Glass, but, surprisingly didn't. By now I think we've all seen the trailer for Old, and get the overall premise: a group of tourists visit a beach which has some kind of ageing properties, which they all find out to their peril. From what's gone on before in Mr Shyamalan's films, this has to be down to some kind of supernatural force, doesn't it? Perhaps it is, but the exact nature of it isn't expained, and we can only assume that to be the case. The final denouement, however, reveals something more sinister, but which I thought was bang on trend: a pharmaceutical company's search for a cure. Maybe this was a bit close to home, and could easily be big pharma searching for a speedy vaccine for Covid. Was that the inspiration for this film perhaps? The concept was an interesting one, although competely immoral if you consider the tourists are nothing but guinea pigs. But is that the price to pay for medical research? It certainly got me thinking, and part of me could see the reason for the company doing it.

I love Russian sci-fi, and this is one of the best. Good effects and storyline, and it's refreshing to see an alien who, unlike the usual Hollywood stereotype, is extremely easy on the eye.

I first heard about this film in 2014, and did think at one point that I'd never get to see it. However, it was well worth the very long wait when finally released. I much prefer to watch foreign films in their native tongue, even though in this case the English subtitles could have been better transated.