Review of The Visit (2015) by Jack B — 12 Apr 2016

M. Night Shyamalan has basically been the Nicolas Cage of directors for the past decade. For the most part, his movies are crap with the exception of the occasional surprising gem. The Visit wasn't exactly a gem, but it had quite a bit more polish than many of his other more recent efforts. There was decent humor, an absurd but coherent plot, and enough ridiculous moments for the film to leave a decent lasting memory. Not every moment was overly enjoyable or well done, but I will say The Visit was much better than I had expected it to be.

Now don't get too excited. Just because The Visit exceeded my expectations doesn't make it a masterpiece. There were still numerous issues that I had with the film, including some of the most irritating characters you will ever meet. I never want to hear an eight year old rap on camera again. Why would anyone think this would be a good idea? It's not even like this was an isolated incident. There was so much rapping in this film that I was able to get in four or five solid cringes before it was all over. That being said, that same character did provide us with the single best moment in the film which occurred near the end. I of course won't say was it was, but it certainly redeemed the character just enough to make me almost like him.

While we're on the subject of rapping and dialogue, that was really the biggest shortcoming of the movie. No child on the planet will talk like the kids in this film. The dialogue was very unnatural and at times it could even ruin your immersion in the film. They might as well given the kids a cape and yell, "I'm Batman" the entire time. It would have made as much sense as half of the dialogue. The grandparents on the other hand were hysterical. Nana and Pop Pop were equal parts hilarious and terrifying and were easily the highlights of the film. Every scene involving the pair was enjoyable and was a vast improvement on some other scenes which included Skype, Yahtzee and several disgusting moments that I don't ever want to think about again. Seriously, this movie was incredibly gross at times. The cringe was very real here.

Now it's time to answer the biggest question of them all. Was M. Night Shyamalan able to make an actual decent movie for a change? Yes he was. Instead of coming up with a crazy new concept to reinvent himself as a director (which many people had suggested he do), I think he listened to what the fans had criticized him for previously and just played into it. The Visit is very similar in tone, storytelling and of course includes a twist like all of his other films, but this film was turned up a notch on purpose to make it feel extremely camp and self aware. There were actually parts of The Visit that felt like M. Night was intentionally trolling us just to get some level of revenge for the criticism we've all heaved upon him these last few years. If this is the way he gets revenge though, more power to him. You'll be able to correctly guess most of the major plot points in the film, but for the first time in a long time you're still going to have a good time watching a movie directed by M. Night Shymalan.