Jason Vorbreeze

Rating: 1/10 (16 October 2008)

The villain in this movie is the wind. The wind chases people. People run away from the wind. As if the wind were a person. This movie is horrendous. M. Night has completely lost touch of reality. His political beliefs are now shaping his once-great writing skills and what we have here is pretentious bile. The acting is dead-pan, as usual in his movies, but the dialog is laughable. This is an example - like Tarantino's "Death Proof" - of a writer/director imitating himself, and the result seeming like self parody. This really does seem more like if Mel Brooks was lampooning M. Night. The best parts of the film are towards the end with a crazy old lady, played by Betty Buckley (basically mimicking Piper Laurie's character in "Carrie", in which Buckley co-starred). If the entire movie centered on the heroes trying to escape her clutches, this would be a fine film. And that's exactly it. M. Night needs to make a haunted house movie, or a slasher flick, or... something simple. He needs to simplify. He's gone wacky. He's getting a bit too original for his own good, and "The Village" and "Lady in the Water" have almost sunk him. But this mess leaves him - and the audience - all wet in the end.