Moving writer's block

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2009)

Shyamalan's star began to fade with this pretty disappointing third film, the style is still as well-executed as in his previous movies, and his special style of dialogues still occasionally have that strange effect on me, but the plot is just way too weak to keep things interesting. It's the subtle horror of an alien invasion, in a typical M. Night fashion we don't really get to take a good look at the supposed villains. All of this really does work, but not for two hours. And the customary twist ending doesn't really deliver either, it just ruins things. If you can even call the ending a twist, things just suddenly stop making sense. I know were supposed to be amazingly intrigued by this oh-so mysterious situation and the foreshadowing of the dead wife, but I just can't get there. And was the hint the wife gave really necessary? It's a pretty basic plan, they could have thought of it all by themselves. Perhaps Shyamalan is just too much of a one-trick pony. Get a basic story, add a little mystery, throw logics out of the window, and there you have it. It worked so well in his first two features though, we'll always have those.