Speak No Evil Review

[Westside Steve]

Speak no evil

Universal

R. 103 min

Well with a title like this one one thing you can tell; without a doubt there will be evil spoken and a great deal of it. I figured that out before I bought the ticket. I didn't know anything except what I saw in the trailer so I won't discuss it further than that. You’re still free to cash in one of your spoiler alerts but I won't tell you anything that you don't know already. Written and directed by the relatively unknown James Watkins. It’s kind of a formula flick but telling you exactly which formula might spoil the surprise. Two families are vacationing at a beautiful Tuscan resort. There are various and Sundry groups of families from all over Europe and abroad but the story centers on two of them. Ben, Louise and Agnes Dalton, are reserved, uptight and nervous millennials trying to patch up something that's going wrong and their marriage. Paddy, Ciera and Ant are much more outgoing and flamboyant and they will befriend the less rambunctious family for the duration of the vacation. Ant is their son who is dealing with a severe speech impediment that makes him almost unintelligible. He will befriend Agnes, a whiny and introverted 12-year-old. Paddy automatically takes charge of the social calendar of both families and invites the Dalton's to visit his Seaside Villa on the other side of the island. Different situations will arise that make Louise nervous that maybe Paddy is a bit too harsh with poor Ant. Whenever her anxiety level gets too high Paddy always apologizes and explains to her that he didn't understand and that past tribulations his wife has gone through have made her less than copacetic with the way normal people should behave. He's very charismatic so Louise eventually backs down and accepts his reasoning. All the while the audience starts to become anxious as well and noticing a couple of giveaway ticks in Paddy's facial expression we all suspect that there is something far more dangerous going on. That's a given because if not it would be a short film. Without telling you exactly what comes to pass I can say it was pretty shocking, even for me. Watkins does a pretty good job of keeping the tension level at an even pace until it's time to open the floodgates. Like many films this one wouldn't work as well as it does without the charisma and the acting chops of McAvoy who comes off as a younger and more buff Russell Crowe. At first I didn't really like this film but it does grow on one slowly but surely partially because of the slightly annoying nature of the Dalton family but once it got rolling, it became more and more irresistible and by the time the climax came crashing down I was ready to give it an

 A-

wSS