Spoilers Galore

Rating: 9/10 (3 August 2002)

JESUS CHRIST GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!! IT IS SOOOO F'IN SCARY!!!!!!
****MAJOR SPOILERS****
Seriously, last night, i had to leave my closet light on because I was so scared. Everywhere I looked, I saw that stupid alien on the roof!!!! AHHHH!!!! And the alien walking across the alley (okay i KNEW that that was going to happen, but when that thing popped out i was so F'IN SCARED!!!) and the alien reflected in the TV. I think i almost peed my pants. I didn't know what to expect at that point, and when he rolled out the TV and there was the alien, squatting down in defense mode, and then the reflection of Joaquin walking into the room and dropping the insulin things
Okay, calming down now. It was just such a good movie and some of the reviews here are like, it was horrible. How can you think that? I don't know, maybe it's more of a movie for the imaginative, but GOD was it SCARY!!!!
Joaquin Phoenix gave one of his best performances, in my opinion, and Abigail Breslin (such a cutie!), shared a partnership with him as the two comic reliefs of the movie. Abigail was more cute than funny, although she did crack me up when she said "Why can't they get boyfriends?" and "This is serious!", but Joaquin's character was just, hilarious, and fearless. I noticed that he was the one that did everything, that boarded the walls, walked up the stairs when an alien could attack him at any time, stayed back to make sure the kids were okay, hitting a hostile alien in his room with a baseball bat, and even though they made him seem like a wuss at times, he was actually pretty damn brave. But God, was he funny. I especially enjoyed the scenes where he and Mel ran around the house (i was on the floor), when Mel came in and Joaquin had his tin foil hat on, and when he was packing the salt on against the cold shute and put a can up top.
M. Night Shyamalan is a genius. An absolute genius. Naturally, audiences are expecting a surprise ending from the well-known writer/director who likes to twist his stories in horrifying ways, and that's exactly what he gives them.
Right from the start, I leaned over to the person sitting next to me, and whispered "Bo's the alien." It was obvious, too obvious. The dog trying to kill her, the "contaminated water" obsession while the theory behind the aliens is that they don't like water, the dreams she has. M. Night made us believe that the big "surprise ending" was gonna be that Bo, or someone in the family, was an alien. Me, I thought it was Bo, definately, just because she's just too darn cute and she wasn't afraid of what was happening up until the end. But when M. Night actually gives us a HAPPY ENDING?!?! I was shocked, absolutely shocked, but laughing my arse off. It all made sense once it was explained, and it boggled my mind. The water, the asthma, the bat mounted on the wall. All of it just, scared me more than anything.
I could go on about this movie forever, but I think I'd go step by step through the whole sequence of things, and I've already given enough spoilers, so I'll just end it saying M. Night's done it again. The movie's scary, the movie's funny, the movie's definately not overrated, and the movie's just one that you have to see TONIGHT!!! SEE IT!!!!
9/10 (i took off a point for some of the going-nowhere scenes)