If you love old-fashioned suspense, you must see this movie!

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 2002)

This movie was done in an older style of filmmaking, in the tradition of Hitchcock and Welles. If you're looking for special effects and explosions in every other scene, search out another blockbuster. Don't be fooled, though; this movie IS entertaining. Very entertaining. There was more humor than I expected, and the scenes were all done very well. The actors all performed superbly - there's no need for superficial special effects when you have actors that can carry the movie with their acting skills: the emotion, the facial expressions, the tone of voice. Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin all convey their characters perfectly, and they make the characters believable in an unbelievable situation. M. Night Shyamalan is utterly brilliant in his methods of creating tension and suspense - very reminiscent of Hitchcock, and more entertaining than just spooky music and shots of blood and gore. And as in all Shyamalan's films, the move has an underlying message. This film's message is about faith and coincidences, about outlook and change. Go see it without expectations and with an open mind; it's certainly worth experiencing.