Speak No Evil (2024)
Speak No Evil
Starring James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi
Directed by James Watkins
American married couple Ben (Scoot McNairy) and Louise (Mackenzie Davis) Dalton are visiting Italy with their young daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) when they meet Paddy (James McAvoy), his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their young son Ant (Dan Hough). The timid Ben is impressed and idolizes Paddy's no-nonsense attitude and charisma, and after they get back to London they agree to visit Paddy and Ciara in their countryside home.
Upon arriving, however, things turn sour quickly as Paddy and Ciara are anything but gracious hosts, making Louise (a devout vegetarian) eat meat, make Ben pay for an expensive dinner, and otherwise come off as less than hospitable. But Ben doesn't want to leave, because he's so shy and insecure that he feels it'd be an insult to them, while Louise wants to bail as soon as possible - and she has reason to do so, as they've been hand-picked by Paddy for nefarious purposes, and his ultimate plan consists of them not leaving the home alive.
Horror films are known for having specific tropes that make them what they are, and more often than not it doesn't work well, leaving the audience members yelling at the screen due to the stupidity of the main characters. "Speak No Evil" does this threefold, as Ben, Louise, and Agnes are incredibly stupid in most of their decisions, and their characters themselves come off as annoying and weak, leaving you in a sense actually rooting for the more charismatic yet psychotic Paddy. Ben is a wimp, someone who allows everyone to walk all over him, especially his wife - and even more especially because he knows what she did in the past. He doesn't have a backbone, and Scoot McNairy - to his credit - plays the role well.
Louise obviously wears the pants in the family, but even she has several major character flaws. She's headstrong and over exaggerates things, such as when Ciara is telling Agnes about how to eat, leaving Louise to lash out at her. She's not a nice person, and Mackenzie Davis plays it off well too, again to the actors' credit. It just doesn't help make her character likable, which she isn't. Then there's Agnes, the most annoying character in the entire film, who's turning twelve years old and still obsesses over a dirty rabbit stuffed animal that basically serves as the film's major plot point. She is clingy, needy, and irritating, and again left me rooting for the bad guys.
The shining performance in the film, undoubtedly, is James McAvoy, one of the most under-appreciated actors in this generation. He pulls off heroism ("X-Men: First Class"), action prowess ("Wanted"), and even family friendly affairs ("The Chronicles of Narnia"), but horror is where he's recently excelled. He dominated the screen in M. Night Shyamalan's "Split" (as well as its sequel "Glass"), and he uses that evil energy in "Speak No Evil" as well. Paddy is a charismatic character with an underlying sociopath disorder where you know he's not being nice for the sake of being nice, but manages to keep his motives close to the vest. You don't know what he'll do next, and it's the true highlight of the film (sadly, Aisling Franciosi is given barely anything to work with, despite her excellent work in other films like "Stopmotion" and "The Nightingale").
Another impressive performance comes from young Dan Hough, who plays the mute Ant, suffering - from what Paddy says anyway - from a disease that caused him to be born with half his tongue. He's unable to speak, but you know there's something sinister happening in his life, and this film does correct an issue I had with the original, showcasing Hough's performance that makes him a more well-rounded character.
The story is interesting in that it does touch on several different themes without landing any of them. Louise and Ben have marriage problems that are discussed almost in passing even though it's huge events, and Paddy's motivations for doing what he's doing...honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. It does in theory, but the execution doesn't work. What really does work, however, is the theme around social norms. How many times have you been to a party or a friend's house and they do something that makes you feel uncomfortable, but you can't find yourself to leave because you don't want to come across as a jerk? While I do fault Ben and Louise for sticking it out, I can understand in a sense why they stayed - but it's still annoying.
The final act of the film delves into every horror cliche imaginable, as the Daltons find themselves fighting for their lives. They do everything the horror movie manual says not to, because they clearly want the audience to engage with the movie - but I don't do that. Instead I laugh at the sheer stupidity of it all, wondering how in the plot armor did they manage to elude their captors so easily. It's laughably bad, wholly generic, and makes the whole tense-filled previous acts almost moot in comparison.
On its own merit, "Speak No Evil" is a stereotypical, by-the-books thriller that offers nothing new and recycles old horror tropes to groan-worthy effect, but fortunately it has the talent of James McAvoy to keep it from sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
The Score: C
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