Maybe if you thought long and hard about some of your past vacations, you wouldn’t want to go back and revisit. Perhaps some negative aspects would seem clearer. Best to concentrate on how enjoyable it was while you were there. That’s a bit how I feel about Speak No Evil where a family of three interrupts their mundane London life to visit another family of three in the remote English countryside. I found myself non tongue-tied during its runtime. This is one of those thrillers where you find yourself talking back at the screen. Get out of the house already! You’re almost a teenager – why are you still attached to a stuffed rabbit?? We’ll get to that one.
Let’s start with some official business. Speak No Evil from James Watkins (The Woman in Black) is based on a 2022 Danish pic that I haven’t seen. It’s said to be darker and less audience friendly than this. Comparisons cannot be made from my vantage point. Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy) are Americans residing in London. We meet them on vacation in Italy along with daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler). Mom is a little overprotective while Dad is a little gun shy to truly challenge her. The fragility of the Dalton clan seems pronounced at first when compared with Paddy (James McAvoy), younger wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their mute son Ant (Dan Hough). Paddy is a boisterous and fun loving doctor who entertains his fellow travelers during one of those who cares what hour it is wine filled lunches that becomes dinner that becomes an after hours chat. They get on well enough that the Yankee Londoners agree to visit Paddy and company at their home.
Louise and Ben see it as an opportunity to rekindle a relationship on shaky ground. Maybe some fresh country air will do that. Yet cracks in their plan emerge after they take the long and winding road to their new surroundings. Paddy has some eccentricities that initially are presented as mild annoyances. He force feeds some goose meat to Louise even though she’s already told him she’s a vegetarian. His parenting skills to silent (but always trying to convey something) Ant are questionable. Then again… so are Louise’s in a less sinister way.
Part of the screenplay’s fun is how there’s usually enough logic that you can understand why the Daltons don’t go speeding back to London. After all, their hosts can’t be crazy right? We know they must be or there wouldn’t be a movie to view. The tension building up to certain reveals are the creepiest moments and most of those come in the first half. James McAvoy is responsible for the bulk of them. I didn’t dig M. Night Shyamalan’s Split as much as many others did, but I definitely was wowed by McAvoy’s work. Here again he is chilling.
On the opposite end, the handling of McNairy’s Ben can be fascinating. He’s probably the weakest character of the sextet. Even quiet Ant seems determined to get something done though we’re not sure what it is for awhile. Plenty of genre material portrays the patriarch as the figure of strength. Ben is decidedly not that for most of Speak No Evil and it’s a fairly fresh and often amusing angle. Mackenzie Davis does an admirable job at conveying the realization of the menaces they’re facing.
Contrivances are common to keep the action moving in these thrillers. The plush bunny belonging to Agnes is a prime example. It’s the most memorable use of that non-human character since Nicolas Cage protected one in Con Air. Plot machinations mount as Evil goes along and the third act isn’t as juicy as the first two. Once motivations are known, it’s a mild letdown. However, I never wanted to hop off the B movie ride.
*** (out of four)
All My Life... I Wanted To Be A Blogster 