Knock, Knock is the latest effort from cult favourite director,
Eli Roth. It’s also the first outing by
Keanu Reeves since 2014’s much lauded John Wick, an action packed fan
favourite.
Knock, Knock is about an architect named Evan Webber
(Reeves); a happily married man with two kids.
On one particular weekend, the wife and kids go away to the beach house
while Evan stays behind to catch up on work.
The first night is a stormy evening with what appears to be a torrential
downpour. That night, two unexpected
young females show up at Evan’s door.
Drenched from head to toe, the buxom young lasses claim that they got
lost looking for a house party in the neighbourhood. Evan let’s them in to dry off and use his
tablet to find the right address. Due to
the stormy night, it wouldn’t be 45 minutes until a cab arrives to pick them up. And that provides 45 minutes for them to
seduce him. What seemed like fun and
games the previous night turns into disaster and terror, as the two seemingly
innocent seducers manipulate, confine and torture Evan.
Coming out of Knock, Knock, I had a difficult time
categorizing what kind of film this was.
There was a little bit of horror, mystery, thriller and comedy in the
mix, however, none of these outweigh the others. Which perhaps is the first problem; the movie
doesn’t know what it wants to be. You
come away from the film feeling unsatisfied.
"And theeennnn I took the red pill!"
It also didn’t help that the story was weak. The story is filled with plot holes which
takes away the levity of the film. During the movie, I was thinking of all the
different ways that Evan could get away or reasons he could provide to prove
what happened at the end. It all made
it seem flimsy. The premise of the movie
itself seems scintillating, and perhaps that’s where the intrigue stops. Another problem with the story is the characterization. Evan Webber is essentially a good man, who is seduced and deceived. But apart from this incident, he's a wholesome husband and father. So it makes the whole thing seem nonsensical... like why did they even pick on him? They provide some loose motive but it doesn't hold together. In Evan's heat filled tirade, he even compares it to getting "free pizza"! How could he turn that down? It's different than say 2005's Hard Candy, which is tense and effective because as the movie progresses you find out that the innocent man is not so innocent. It brings reasoning to the punishment.
The acting, particularly by the two female leads is
terrible. Perhaps because they are two
foreign actresses working with an American script. They are over the top and not in a convincing
or fun way. The quality of their
performances isn’t too far off from a stage production that you would expect to
see at a high school play. They are
supposed to be threatening and evoke terror, but most of the time they just
seem annoying.
The one redeeming feature is Keanu Reeves. Perhaps he knew and understood how stupid the
story is, but Reeves pulls off a performance of a lifetime. I don’t recall any other of his performances
where he shows such range. It’s just a
shame that it’s in this movie; likely a movie that not too many will ever
see. Thank the Lord.
So there you have it.
Knock, Knock? Who’s there? Nobody.
Nobody who? Nobody go see this
movie. Later geeks.
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