by Nick Nitkowski

I’m not going to lie, when I saw the trailer for this movie, I wasn’t sold on it. The only thing that made me consider it was James McAvoy staring in it because I liked him in the X-Men prequel films and I thought he did an excellent job portraying multiple personalities in the movie “Split” so I know he’d play a great psycho character in the film. I didn’t even know that this movie was a remake of a Danish film of the same name that was released two years ago until after I watched this one, so I can’t draw any comparisons between the two. But despite not being sold by the trailers, I went ahead and gave it a fair shot. Now that I’ve seen it, how is it?

“Speak No Evil” is a thriller remake about a family vacationing in Italy when they come across a charismatic family who invites them to stay at their home while they’re in town. But the longer they stay with them, they soon discover that something is not quite right with this family and they must find a polite way to leave without raising any suspicions. 

Focusing on the positives of this movie first, James McAvoy, surprising to no one, carries this movie. He’s so good at conveying real charm that could draw anyone in as well as slowly losing that charm leading to an unhinged state. He’s obviously the main draw of this film and rightfully so. He’s the one you look forward to seeing on screen and each time he does, he does not disappoint. 

And now onto the negatives. Throughout the duration of this film, it was incredibly difficult to tell when this movie was being intentionally funny and unintentionally funny. Because I was laughing a lot during this movie and I’m very unsure if I was supposed to. Even during the film’s finale, which is supposed to be the most thrilling aspect of the whole thing, I found myself laughing. And it wasn’t just me. The audience was laughing throughout the entire movie as well. In that regard, I guess you can say that the movie was never boring, so that’s a plus. But when you pay to see a thriller and you’re laughing through most of it, you’d have to consider that a failure in terms of the goal of a thriller. 

Another negative is that the main family of the film that you’re supposed to root for during their endeavors are not only unlikable for the most part, but they are also incredibly dumb. Another goal for a thriller is to present heroes you want to see make it out of the given situation and make them relatable. In doing so, they would have to make decisions in a situation that any one of us watching would do. They were none of these things. They had plenty of opportunities to get out of the situation easily and they willingly put themselves back in which makes them incredibly dumb. Not only that, but they seem very uncaring towards each other throughout the film when they’re supposed to be a family. This does get explained in the film, but it still didn’t seem like it was a good enough explanation.

Overall, “Speak No Evil (2024)” is a mess in terms of tone and it is far from a perfect film. I can only hope that the original version is better and something got lost in translation when making this one. Perhaps I’ll find it at some point and see for myself. But as this current version stands, I personally think that it failed as a thriller as I found nothing thrilling or surprising in it. Having said that, it’s not boring. It manages to hold one’s attention and that’s mostly due to James McAvoy’s performance in the film. There’s no denying that the audience I watched this with was having a ball with this film. So, it’s quite possible that you too may find yourself having a fun time with it. The film may not have much to say, but does have a voice, and Evil or not, it does Speak to those who choose to listen.

3 stars