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"The Visit" was M. Night Shyamalan's first step back into the spotlight and I enjoyed it well enough when I first saw it despite it's flaws. It really still shocks me how much of a leap in quality happened between this and his next film "Split". I don't believe the film is great, by far, but I do believe it was one with a strong premise and some great scenes that, coupled with the prolific man who made it, will keep it from fading away into obscurity. There is much to say about the movie as it proved a stepping stone for Shymalan but foremost I believe that it would of been best served as a normal movie rather than one in the found footage/faux documentary style. This format hindered it as much as it made it stand out.
The film deals with two kids visiting grandparents they've never met for the first time. In a bid to heal the chasm of estrangement between their mother and her parents they set out to make a documentary about the issues that caused the emotional schism. Thing is, grandma and grandpa are downright pretty strange. Things, as you might guess, escalate.
Upon second viewing the same issues I had the first go round became all the more glaring. I found I hated the kid characters even more than I originally did. They are just so unrealistic and grating. Their dialogue is loaded with expository remarks that spoon feed way too much for the audience while simultaneously making you want to choke them for being so obnoxious. What should of been charming precociousness in the talented youths comes off as pretentiousness. And one of them raps...often. It's so bad. Movies like "The Babadook" showed us that a grating child character can work for the purposes of the film's themes but the two child leads in "The Visit" are far too often a chore to be around. They feel less like children and more like those douchey, self-deluded hipsters you try to actively avoid.
One of the two children is an aspiring filmmaker (hence the format of the movie). It is through her lens that we see the bulk of the movie and this allows for a more cinematic approach to the ongoings of a found footage flick. HOWEVER, M. Night's attempts at making shots look natural just end up making everything look all the more set up even when that is not the intention. What about the other points of view or moments of spontaneity? Well, they look just as meticulously planned as the normal shots and that, for me, robbed it of all it's immersive strengths. All the criticisms usually leveled at found footage films about the forced camera POV are front and center here because of this issue. Don't even get me started on the vexing jump-scare set ups.
Another massive problem is the severe lack of subtlety. M.Night had a deft hand at carefully crafting dialogue and scenes to build up a frothing sense of anticipation in movies like Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, etc, but he slowly lost that touch as time went on. In "The Visit" he is still not free of those chains as the dialogue feels not only incredulous but sloppy and loaded with unnecessary exposition. While the individual story arcs of the heroes of the film still manage to function quite well, they could of done so unencumbered by moments where the audience is blatantly shown or told what to know or believe. This is not pinpoint precision at work, it's messy and it fells condescending at times when it's not just making you shake your head.
All in all, "The Visit" feels a bit forced, very clumsy, and is hobbled by an inability to successfully suspend disbelief. Too often did i find myself questioning motives, decisions, entire characters, and shots. Conceptually it is strong but concept alone does not a movie make. There remain great scenes and some unnerving moments but little much else. The acting is fantastic but good actors don't fix frustrating characters in this case. This movie will continue to be that little step forward from the cinematic abyss that M.Night needed for a second shot at greatness but it is certainly not to be put in the pantheon of his great films...but at least it's not "The Happening". 5/10
