In M. Night Shyamalan’s Catchan officer tells his battalion about one of the victims of the serial killer known as the Butcher. The healthy father, dismembered and scattered, is exactly the kind of person who deserves to win awards for good citizenship. Who wants to watch a movie about this guy?
Cooper (Josh Hartnett), the living embodiment of a dad joke, is a little too enthusiastic when he is dragged to a Lady Raven concert. (Shyamalan cast his daughter Saleka as the singer, in an egregious if loving act of nepotism.) After discovering that the show is an elaborate trap to catch the Butcher, Cooper ditches his daughter and begins a waltz through the bowels of the stadium, standing out in a sea of teen fangirls like a 6-foot-tall, 46-year-old heartthrob. Hartnett is the star, vacillating between charming and edgy and sinister. Shyamalan said in an interview that he filmed Hartnett up close and speaking directly into the camera to make him seem “abnormally connected” to the other characters. The film wears its kitsch like a badge of honor.
Like the “really cool” trapdoor Cooper suggests walking through with his daughter, Shyamalan never explores deeper ideas like fatherhood, work-life balance, or suburban living. For some, figuring out the “big twist” will be enough to keep interest in the entertaining, if nonsensical, third act. The real twist for me was the realization that The sixth sense came out 25 years ago. If that means something to you, then you might be less concerned about the Butcher, and I am even more baffled by a character’s claim that a tray of beautiful deviled eggs is a quick-to-prepare snack. PG-13, 105 mins.
Wide cinema release
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