Turkey in the cornfield

Rating: 5/10 (22 April 2004)

I had great expectations of Shyamalan's third film and for the first twenty minutes they were all met. Intriguing plot, strange household, exciting soundtrack - all going well for another suspense thriller. Then it all fell apart. The actions stopped and the talking started, and you realised that this was a household as depressing as anything by Ingmar Bergman but not nearly as interesting. Mel Gibson as a widowed ex-priest is a dull, middle-aged man, unable to articulate his loss of faith. Joaquin Phoenix as a failed baseball player (unless you know something about baseball, you don't know why he failed)is even less interesting. And the kids havn't a spark of excitement in them -even asthmatics and hypochondriacs surely could show a little childlike enthusiasm occasionally.
So the action button is on pause for a dull middle part of the film, marked only by one of the silliest last suppers in movie history. It's only when the four characters end up in a darkened cellar does Shyamalan regain the spark of his earlier films - but not for long. It's hard to comment on the end without spoilers, but it's enough to say that anyone expecting the twists of Sixth Sense and Unbreakable will be sadly disappointed.