Film Review: Speak No Evil (2024)

This is going to be a very hard film to review because not only does my review for the original Danish film pretty much apply about the same here, in order to get into my feelings, I would basically have to spoil the third act of the film. So, I’m not really sure how to approach this kind of situation. So, I’ll just start off by saying, I liked this more than I thought I would, and as a remake, it does a good job of creating an experience that you can enjoy separate from the original, while also maintaining the core elements of what made Christian Tafdrup’s film work.

So, from here on out, consider this soft spoiler territory. I won’t go into details, but I will describe the general vibe of where this movie goes, and compare it to the original.

The premise is very straightforward, during a trip in Italy, an American family consisting of Ben (Scoot McNairy), his wife Louise (Mackenzie Davis), and daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) become friendly with another family, made up of Paddy (James McAvoy), Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and their young son Ant (Dan Hough). Ben and his family are invited to visit Paddy’s farm house, which they agree to since their recent move to London is taking some strain on them. But as they spend time with Paddy’s family, they realize their way of acting and doing things is very odd and awkward and against typical social norms, but is it harmless or is there something sinister afoot?

Obviously, there’s something sinister afoot. One can’t look at McAvoy in this movie and think for a second that he is a normal, sane dude, or even his wife for that matter. Like with the character’s equivalent in the Danish version, he acts in ways that are aggressive and pushy, often crossing little lines in his interactions with Ben and his family, from making Louise – a vegetarian – eat a sample of a roast duck, to Ciara scolding Agnes for eating with her mouth open, to Paddy actively screaming at Ant for something as small as dancing awkwardly. It’s all about how much you are willing to take to avoid confrontation, hoping that being polite will make all the red flags suddenly disappear.

Obviously, the film takes this theme to extreme places, but this is something I think a lot of us experience. How often do we let bad behavior slide because we don’t want to cause a scene, or make other people uncomfortable, or be taken the wrong way? Certainly, there has to be a limit, though. Someone can only push you so far before you start to push back. But then again, what if you don’t think it’s a big deal, maybe it’s just a bunch of small things, maybe you think deep down, they’re still cool. Obviously, letting people continue their strange behavior without getting called out isn’t going to result in anything bad, right?

Well, this is a movie, so…obviously this is going to result in something bad. And this is where I have to get into a bit about the ending. So, the original film is a totally unabashed feel-bad movie, it ends on a seriously bummer note that left a sinking feeling in my stomach after I saw it. It was quite upsetting to say the least. When this film was announced, I was very worries they would give this story the Hollywood treatment, and…they essentially have. You can even glimpses of it in the trailer, it is much more crowd pleasing, it is aiming to give you the satisfaction that the original purposefully steered away from, which kind of goes against the whole point of the original.

However, I’m thinking that this was ultimately the smartest choice writer-director James Watkins makes here. After all, this is the guy who gave us Eden Lake, one of the all-time great feel-bad thrillers, if he wanted to recreate the original film beat for beat, including the ending, he could have easily pulled it off. But if he did, what would the point of this movie even be? You could just watch the original. Instead of trying to out-do the same story, he reworks it into something that fits American sensibilities better, and works as a standalone story. The ending here totally works for the story they have told, and they add enough details to make it work thematically as well. There’s an added element regarding a mistake that Louise made in her past that haunts the marriage, and her and Ben having to deal with these personal demons and personal failings are given some catharsis when we hit the third act.

And that’s all I can kind of get into when it comes to Speak No Evil, the American version. I’m not sure what else is worth digging into. It’s well made, Watkins knows how to handle tension, the cast is made up of really strong and committed performers, so everyone really delivers. And that goes double for McAvoy, who is delightfully unhinged. And it’s nice to see Scoot McNairy lead a film like this, though he is inexplicably billed last in the opening credits, which I found so odd. But anyway, I think this is a quality remake that stands on its own. Both versions offer a different experience, and both execute their ideas very well. So, if you’re in the mood to get bummed out for a week, the original is available for you, but if you just want a really tense thriller, this will totally do. I think I might still have a slight preference for the original, but that’s really neither here nor there. This is still very engaging, and definitely worth your time.

 

Speak No Evil is now playing in theaters.