He is not Hitchcock!

Rating: 5/10 (8 August 2002)

At least not yet. Hitchcock generally let the writers do what they do best and he did what he did best--DIRECT. Yes I know Hitchcock wrote some of the stories for his movies, but most of what he did write was dreck like this movie. Shyamalan is a very talented director but he should stop trying to write. This movie had some chills but I hate Shyamalan's insistence on inane plot twists to try prove how smart he is. He assumes because he fooled us with Sixth Sense he must do it for every movie! Wrong! And there is a lot wrong with this movie (***Warning Spoilers***):
1. Aliens can travel millions of light years without help but they need crop circles to find their way around! Huh? We primitive humans have GPS systems. One would think the aliens would have something better.
2. They can be killed by water but come to a planet that is 70% water! Huh? They also come naked with no protective suits or weapons. Maybe they do have advanced weathermen though. Don't need to worry about rain EVER while they are making crop circles for their friends. Maybe they are related to the wicked witch...
3. Mel Gibson's wife is killed in a tragic accident stolen from a Homicide episode (which was stolen from a true incident). To set up a ridiculous finale with a baseball bat.
4. Thousands of people are killed by the aliens, but ONE kid is saved by a bunch of lame coincidences. Ugh!
So, to sum up--Shyamalan should put his typewriter away and sit in the director's chair where he belongs. 6/10