THE WATCHERS (2024) review
written by: Ishana Night Shyamalan
produced by: M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan and Nimitt Mankad
directed by: Ishana Night Shyamalan
rated: PG-13 (for violence, terror and some thematic elements)
runtime: 102 min.
U.S. release date: June 7, 2024
Ishana Night Shyamalan has no doubt grown up on movie sets and started watching scary movies at an early age. Having served as a second unit director on her father, M. Night Shyamalan’s last two films (“Old” and “Knock at the Cabin”), she has since taken the task of helming her first feature-length movie, “The Watchers”, from a screenplay she wrote that adapts the 2020 novel of the same name by A.M. Shine. The result is an ambitious endeavor with a compelling initial conceit, a feature that starts off in an engaging manner, but soon loses its footing due to poor pacing decisions, some convoluted storytelling, and a genuine lack of tension.
Set in modern-day Ireland, the story follows Mina (Dakota Fanning), an American immigrant working at a pet shop in Galway. She comes across as both independent and sullen, and, like many twentysomethings in a different country in the movies, she’s doing her best to remove herself from a traumatic incident that occurred when she and her twin sister, Lucy (Fanning), were children. One day, her boss tasked her with delivering a bird to a client in a remote area somewhere between Galway and Belfast.
The journey takes Mina from a winding road to a dense forest, where her vehicle turns off and she meets Madeline (Olwen Fouere) an mysterious older woman who seems to know her way around, offering Mina a “come with me if you want to live” invitation. Somewhat reluctant yet with no other option, Mina follows Madeline to a bunker she calls the “Coop,” home to two other individuals, Ciara (Georgina Coleman) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan). One side of the bunker is a wall with a full two-way mirror. Those inside can only view themselves, but the monsters that lurk in the forest called the Watchers, who only come out at night, can view inside. Mina is told that the expectation is that the inhabitants of the Coop are to line up at a specific time each day so these Watchers can see them.
The four humans wander the forest at night, foraging for food and any possible way out, but at night, they must return to the Coop, or the creatures will supposedly get them. Much of this is initially suspicious to Mina, who constantly looks for a way out of the forest. She is told by Madeline that there are rules of survival here: 1. no wandering out at night or the Watchers will kill you 2. no exploring the Burrows, the subterranean tunnels where the Watchers retreat during the day because of their aversion to sunlight. But who made these rules, and what happens when they are not followed? That’s the first of many questions viewers will ask, not to mention the characters in “The Watchers.”
Mina is something of an enigma right from the start. Early in the film, we can tell that she keeps to herself and has no friends in Ireland. Her choice to wear a wig, changing from a blonde to a brunette, when she sets out to the local pub to meet guys, tells us she’s interested in being someone else. Possibly escaping who she is or at least who she sees herself as. Following this, the protagonist is curious since Fanning plays her as if she’s permanently in a trance.
Inevitably, in the second half of “The Watchers,” much is revealed, yet little is explained, concluding quite a detaching experience. This often happens in Shyamalan’s father’s movies as well. When it comes time for the “big twist”, it’s underwhelming, obvious, or a shoulder shrug.
The location and production design of The Coop is simple enough, almost set up like a stage play. We have no idea who set up the interior, which is set up with beds, chairs, and a table, as well as an old television with a DVD of a British reality show. Of course, Mina will test the aforementioned rules since there’s no other point in mentioning them. That turns into an underground adventure (the first of two), which leads to more questions regarding who else is watching the foursome besides these Watcher creatures.
As a director, Shyamalan primarily uses stillness to elicit suspense, but doing so in such a repeated manner becomes frustrating. However, there is commendably appropriate atmospheric sound and production design present. As a writer, there’s just too much going on for the movie’s runtime, making the material better suited for an episodic limited series. Some revelations in the story are just flat-out ludicrous and garner more questions.
It’s hard to feel for this foursome when they lack urgency or desperation throughout most of the story. It feels like the three who were there months before Mina have relegated themselves to this strange confinement, whereas anyone in the audience would’ve scoured their surroundings thoroughly. They don’t do that until Mina arrives, and even then, it’s well into her time there.
Inevitably, a survivor escapes the ordeal in the woods in a story like this. If we were more invested in these characters, we might care more about how they end up as the movie ends. A hint at a sequel feels unnecessary and presumptuous. Instead, Shyamalan closes with problematic exposition dumps of the folk fantasy variety rather than anything resembling a satisfying closure.
RATING: **
