The Watchers

A real disappointment.

'The Watchers' holds some promise with its premise, though unfortunately it never really clicks into gear - in my opinion, at least. In fact, the longer it went on the more bored I felt whilst watching. I was waiting for the arrival of the end credits, which I thought were coming after 'the event' seemingly ends... yet the film still goes on for a little while yet.

No-one on the cast did anything that could save this, either. Olwen Fouéré is decent, her character starts off fairly interestingly but by the conclusion I didn't really care for her either. The only positive I have for this 2024 flick is the score, which actually is quite good. Aside from that, this Ishana Night Shyamalan directorial debut underwhelmed me a lot, sadly.

Now my Irish geography isn't brilliant, but even I know that to drive from Galway to Belfast takes about four hours and does not involve any forest tracks. Nevertheless, pet shop worker "Mina" (Dakota Fanning), who is still coming to terms with a not very recent tragedy, sets off with her rare yellow bird only for her car to break down in the middle of an ancient forest. With no phone reception, she decides to leave her car and taking the caged bird with her, proceeds to wander through the trees shouting help! Pointless? Well no, as it happens, because she luckily encounters "Madeline" (Olwen Fouéré) who lives in a large concrete bunker with "Daniel" (Oliver Finnegan) and "Ciara" (Georgina Campbell). It appears that they have all been stran...

The Watchers marks Ishana Night Shyamalan's directorial debut, with her father, M. Night Shyamalan, serving as a producer. For her first feature film, Ishana adapts the book The Watcher into a movie. The story centers on Mina, a U.S. immigrant living in Ireland, who works at a pet shop. She is sent to the countryside to make a delivery, only to find herself stranded in the middle of a forest. Seeking refuge, she discovers an old building with three walls and a window. She meets three other people who inform her that she cannot leave because 'The Watchers' are always watching and keeping them there.

The visual style of the film is impressive, showcasing Ishana Night Shyamalan's potential as a director. The atmospheric setting of the fores...

Has some interesting elements here and there but despite some decent direction by Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of M. Night) and a solid enough performance by Elle Fanning, it doesn't quite come together and not a whole lot that I found thrilling or scary. The final 20-minutes or so also didn't work very well either. As a whole it's a run-of-the-mill supernatural horror film that if not for the director this would've been dumped on Netflix. 2.5/5

Interesting movie, with interesting ending. Unique in its own way. I liked it, was really good. No progapanda and agenda, thank god.