The beauty, the beauty of it all!!

Rating: 10/10 (12 September 2002)

What a movie!! Shyamalan scores again with an absolutely riveting thriller. i can totally understand why many people think the ending is disappointing, but for me, this is one of the most poetic, beautiful endings ever. forget the ending though, which by now is the thing that everybody is really looking forward to in a "Night Film".
The movie starts chillingly and stays that way right through, the sustained tension, built up eerily in the most beautiful way. the director proving it is not what one sees but the unknown and the unseen that is truly scary. using it to great effect, we hardly get to see any aliens, alien space-ships or anything of that kind for 95% of the movie.
the performances are simply brilliant, the kids deserving special mention. manoj shyamalan himself is very convincing in his cursed role.
i will not say much about the plot, it is pretty well-known. what i will tell you is .... wait!!
*******SPOILERS HEREIN*******
Everybody came to the theatres expecting a scary movie. that they get. another thing evreyone expects is a movie about aliens. how shyamalan uses it as a hook to pull the audience into the theatre and tell a beautiful message at the end deserves high praise. forget the bigger issues of whether god really exists, or whether everything was a coincidence (of course Night answers these questions in his own way in the movie, but it is just a story). it is the beauty of the story and how every single element fits in to make these strange coincidences add up to the Big truth of the existence of God is extraordinary. and this coming from an atheist is quite something indeed.
an absolute must-watch at least once, and for me a few times to soak in the poetic beauty of it all!!
An Exciting, Scary but Beautiful 10!!