The twist is... you've been suckered once again

Rating: 1/10 (23 May 2006)

How does this film merit a 7 rating?
M Night Shyamalan seems to have carved an unspectacular niche in his own little 'tales of the unexpected' series. Everything about this film seems to have been done as an afterthought. No, it's not scary. No, it contains no real action to speak of. No, it's characters are not developed beyond a contrived subplot (or rather, only plot) of a preacher losing faith. Shyamalan seems to try so hard to present the amazing in an unamazing manner, that the result is... just dull (The Village is a prime example of his 'technique').
As for the infamous water storyline, I don't want to hear about it being a metaphor, or it's the germs or whatever other excuse you can dream up to justify bad storytelling. These are the facts:
Aliens vastly superior to us invade Earth, but are allergic to water. EARTH. A planet that is something like 70% water, populated by humans (also largely made up from water) who cry water when upset (a handy defence against these invaders eh?). Oh, and it has been known to rain here from time to time.
There's a hell of a lot more pollution in the air than in our water, but hey. Don't tell the scriptwriter. He's trying to be clever.