Producer Jason (The Invisible Man 2020) Blum's Speak No Evil, written and directed by James (Eden Lake/The Woman in Black 2012) Watkins, is a retelling of Christian and Mads Tafdrup's effective, 2002, Danish chiller of the same name. The story is reality-entrenched, in the manner of The River Wild, Duel, Deliverance, Southern Comfort, Hunter's Blood, Straw Dogs, The Wicker Man, Midsommar, Race with the Devil, Wrong Turn, House of 1000 Corpses, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes. That means, its circumstances are not far beyond what could happen to anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In Speak No Evil's case (and this goes for either edition), the emphasis falls on a misjudgment of character, where people thought to be generous and kind turn out to be sadistic and deadly.
As with the original, the remake introduces us to a family, American in this instance (though stationed in London), on vacation in Tuscany, Italy, that by chance encounters a rural, British family during their sojourn. The Americans consist of Scoot (Monsters) McNairy's Ben Dalton; his wife, Mackenzie (Terminator: Dark Fate) Davis' Louise; and their daughter, Alix West Lefler's Agnes. The rustic family is helmed by James (X-Men/Narnia/Split) McAvoy's Paddy (a professed physician of some sort); his wife, Aisling (The Nightingale) Franciosi's Ciara and their mute boy, Dan Hough's Ant. The latter clan seems friendly enough that the Daltons accept Paddy's invitation to visit their farm.
This is a ploy, of course, with odd behavior occurring no sooner than the Daltons arrive. Ant is most peculiar, in this respect, a lad who seems desperate to share secrets (yet frightened to do so), while being openly bullied by his dad. Little by little, the degree of Paddy's cruelty builds, as he keeps the full extent of his evil concealed until an explosive reveal.
To reveal the reveal would spoil the story, unless one has seen the original's perturbing path, but even then, the redux adds a ton of new twists and turns, but the concept's survivalist drive is the same, allowing audiences to see through an unwitting family's eyes.
As with the Tufdruf version, the performances in the 2024 version are top-notch, but McAvoy is the movie's magnet, balancing his character between hospitable charm and all-out, sneering contempt. His performance, which channels the noxious, slow burn of Fedja van Huet's antagonist, is a Jekyll/Hyde tour de force, where he squeezes the terror for every vindictive drop.
It's safe to say that both versions of Speak No Evil are solid nail-biters, due to their wrong-turn predicament, but also because we've all been fooled by smiling faces at one time or another. Speak No Evil reminds us to be on guard with strangers, though like the Daltons (and their woeful precursors), too often we arrive at that realization too late.
No comments:
Post a Comment