The starting point of the decline Shyamalan's career

Rating: 2/10 (19 July 2005)

Shyamalan created a few excellent movies before this one, and if there was one point in his career that marked a decline from his peak, it would be this one. There are two major things about this movie that make it completely awful, and it makes me think that he was too rushed or lazy when making this film.
-- The deadpan acting. I don't know if MNS was trying to go for deer-in-headlight shock, or the heavy burden of the situation, but Mel Gibson and his entire family were completely unemotional about *anything*. After listening to their monotonic drone for thirty minutes, I was completely bored.
-- The aliens. These guys are smart enough to accomplish interstellar travel, yet they've been plotting for a long time to take over a planet that's 70% covered with a substance that's toxic to them (I don't know... maybe they were looking for a source for WMDs), and they can't figure out a way to break down a wooden door with a weapon, explosives, or at least an improvised battering ram.... hoooo-kay!