In Ireland, the clerk of a pet shop Mina (Dakota Fanning) is a woman with a childhood trauma since she caused the death of her mother (Siobhan Hewlett) in a car crash when she was ten years old and is estranged from her twin sister Lucy (Dakota Fanning). When the owner of the shop assigns her to deliver a yellow parrot in Belfast, Mina uses the GPS to drive through a lonely road. Out of the blue, her car stops working and Mina looks for help. When she returns, she does not find her car anymore and enters the forest completely lost. When the night is coming, a strange woman, Madeline (Olwen Fouéré), asks her to run to her house called "The Coop", otherwise she will die. Mina meets Ciara (Georgina Campbell), whose husband John (Alistair Brammer) is looking for help trying to leave the forest, and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan) that are stranded in the forest for a long time. Georgina explains rules that must be followed by Mina and tells her that the beings "The Watchers" observe them though a mirrored glass in the bunker and kill anyone that leaves the bunker during the night. But Mina breaks one rule with the support of Daniel and enters in an underground tunnel, irritating the Watchers. Some time later, Mina learns from Madeline that the Watchers are Fairies trying to learn how shapeshift to imitate humans. When they break in the Coop, Mina finds a hidden hatch leading to another bunker where Professor Rory Kilmartin (John Lynch), who constructed the Coop, researched the Fairies and they learn more about the Watchers through his computer files. Will they succeed to escape?
"The Watchers" (2024) is a supernatural movie with an intriguing beginning and terrible development and conclusion. The plot is flawed, with many unanswered questions, like for example why Mina proceeded following a weird route instead of returning to another road. Or how Dr. Kilmartin built the bunker and the Coop? The explanation that he brought poor people to work in the forest is not plausible. Or how people in the Coop washed or changed clothing. Or how they drink water. Or how they have haircut and Daniel shaved himself. How a university let a stranger enter the room of a professor to collect his research. It seems that the gorgeous Dakota Fanning when she was a young girl has become a woman with plain beauty. It also seems that Ishana Shyamalan has the same genetic problems in direction inherited from her father. My vote is five.
Title (Brazil): "Os Observadores" ("The Watchers")
