eh...

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2008)

While more entertaining than The Village, this may be Shyamalan's worst film so far (perhaps I should mention that I am generally a fan of Mr. Shyamalan's films). There are some mildly startling moments, but mostly, the film is relatively predictable. It's not hard to figure out what's going on before any of the characters mention it, and well before the main characters grasp it. Not to mention, Shyamalan seems to have forgotten how to startle his viewers--you can see most of the shocks coming, and Shyamalan relies heavily on extreme violence to make an impression on the viewer. The acting is often not very believable--and there seems to be something weird going on with Zooey Deschanel's pupils. Plus, a shot is included late in the film in which a boom mic dips very obviously into the shot. Shyamalan also fails to provide any truly substantial explanation for the timing of the end of the 'event'--timing which seems pretty convenient for him as a writer. There's not much of a climax, it just kind of falls off. Finally, while some of Shyamalan's past films certainly seem to have a central message, even a message that is critical of some societal ill, he has now jumped on the bandwagon and taken up the ever-popular and almost cliché environmentalist's mantel.