Knock at the Cabin (2023) - Good.  Mostly

I read somewhere that the definition of a 'slow burn' is a film which isn't faced paced (for the most part), but has a pay-off which makes the lack of speed worthwhile.  The opposite is a film that is just slow and ends up being a complete waste of time.  I guess 'Knock at the Cabin' falls into the former, as - for whatever reason - I stuck with it until the end just to see how it all turned out.

It's about a couple who take their adopted daughter to a remote cabin for a break, only for four strangers (led by Dave Bautisda - who's actually becoming a better actor than most people ever thought he could be!) to break in and hold them hostage.  The catch being that these 'home invaders' don't want to hurt or steal from them.  They just want one of them to kill themselves in order to prevent the apocalypse (which is taking place within an hour or so).

So what follows is a kind of cat and mouse game where the captives try to deal with whether they should simply escape, fight back, or believe their captors and do the unthinkable.

Like I say, I stuck with it.  Once it finished I realised it was an M Night Shyamalan film and it kind of made sense.  That kind of explained the slightly stilted dialogue and I just kept thinking back to a YouTube reviewer who said of Shyamalan's dialogue 'That almost sounds like how a real person would talk!' and I can't help but agree.

Now, if you know anything about Shyamalan's (mainly early) work, you'll know he's well known for his plot twists.  So, if you're expecting something out of 'left field' to blow your mind at the end, you won't find it here.  Everything is - uncharacteristically - well wrapped up here, so there won't be much left to debate once the credits roll.

Overall, this is a decent enough film which should keep most people entertained, but I'm not sure it'll be remembered along with his classics like 'Sixth Sense' and 'Unbreakable.'

6/10

A Working Man (2025) - Okay, but not 'vintage' Stath

I confess - I didn't get round to watching this in the cinema.  I'm a pretty big fan of Jason Statham's output - yes, I know it's hardly Shakespeare, but if I'm in the mood for some good ol' fashioned action silliness, 'The Stath' normally provides.  However, in between the theatrical release and me finding it on streaming, I did see a fair few YouTube reviews of it.  Most said that it was 'Okay, but with flaws.' Then they went on to list what was wrong with it, so perhaps by the time I got round to viewing it myself, I was kind of on the look out for what was mentioned.

The plot revolves around Statham as the titular 'working man' who has traded in his special forces military background for a life on a construction site.  That's until his employers' daughter gets kidnapped and it turns into a kind of 'Taken' affair with him using his 'skill-set' to get her back.

Now I find myself listing the problems I heard about on YouTube regarding the film.  Yes, it's a bit too long.  Yes, it feels a bit unfocused with the fact that there really doesn't seem to be a 'real antagonist' for Jason Statham to fight.  He just goes from place to place, beating up henchmen until he gets to the 'lead gangster' of that area, deals with him and then moves on to the next setting (yes, a bit like a videogame beat 'em up!).  Then there are the secondary characters.  Each is brought on like they're going to have a major impact in the story, only for them to either be killed or simply abandoned as the story progresses.

Overall, I got my action.  I got my silliness and so I got my money's worth out of 'A Working Man' so I can't really complain too much.  But, seeing as I have the 'Transporter' trilogy and 'Crank' films on DVD, I'd rather watch any of them instead of this one again.  I wonder if the 'sequel bait' at the end will pay off?

6/10