Successful 'pastiche'

Rating: Null/10 (21 October 2002)

In this film, Shyamalan tries some new things.
1) Unlike The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, this film has some Brechtian effects inside -such as the aluminium helmet, or sad, however funny dinner scene-. However, they are quite weak, and simply don't serve the aim.
2) He pays tribute to films such as 'Birds' of Hitchcock, or 'Night of the Living Dead' of Romero -for the film, remember the finger cut scene, and the birds afterwards. Or the alien 'design'...
I'm not quite sure about the casting in this film. Mel Gibson is really good in reflecting the 'aura' of a middle-class farmer; however, he simply fails to reflect the inner transformation of a former priest who has difficulties for believing in God. That's apparently not an important matter for Shyamalan, for he usually lets it go for the role. What he emphasizes on is the visuality and the dramaturgy, which is quite good in this film as well.
Nevertheless, the end is by no means successful. It is understandable that Shyamalan avoids conventional action scenes, but the fight scene was really alienating. One can understand Shyamalan's real problem is to reflect the inner transformation of Hess, i,e., his return to belief, however, the ending is really weak for that. I highly recommend Bergman's 'Wild Strawberries' for anyone who wants to see a good example of that.
Shyamalan continues Hitchcock's tradition to appear in his own films; however, Hitchcock never had a key role a Shyamalan did -and agonizingly failed- in this film.
What Syhalaman always does best, is, the spooky and at the same time sad atmosphere in his films. Just remember the sad ending of The Sixth Sense or the sad family in Unbreakable, this film contains the very same sadness. It's a success if you make someone both sad and scary in a film.
An overall evaluation: Not his best film, but it's always hard in Hollywood to shoot three successive masterpieces. Consider this as a kind of break, or as a successful compromise.