Why is it so hard for Americans to find a good movie these days?

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2008)

Because we're looking in all the wrong places.
Don't get me wrong, Shyamalans new flick is not perfect in any sense of the word. The dialogue is chunky and awkward, the acting follows accordingly into sometimes seemingly mild absurdity. The R rating is completely wasted, especially since it was hyped by the media. And worst of all, Walberg is miscast in his role as the leading protagonist.
But the message and theme remains and it is clear as a bright blue morning.
To say that this movie is a walking "green" advertisement would be to oversimplify. This movie is about the power of fear, the complexity of human relationships which are at the same time beautifully simple in moments of extreme duress, and most of all, a nod towards the overall discourse of our modern world towards trying to find "simple" answers in regards to unexplainable phenomena. For those critics that slam this movie because it leaves us with a hanging string would be to prove Shyamalans very point: that as a society, we have become unfamiliar and yes, uncomfortable with whatever does not hand us answers in percentage, mathematical, or clear cut formulas. This movie is not supposed to provide any clear formulaic answers, merely present us with an exaggerated situation and then allow us to come to our own epiphany.
How do I know this to be true? For the reviewers that have actually seen this movie, then you know that there were those moments of complete quiet on screen. Where only the wind breathed life and the grass swayed ominously and Walberg and Deschanel ceased their constant running and looked fearfully out into the open green fields. What were they looking for...what were they running from? They didn't know, not for sure...only that something was after them, something they could not stop, something that they could not see, touch, taste, or hear. Only something that they could feel. If not clear enough, these intense moments of human frailty are then reiterated in the form of a child running limply beside Deschanel's character. In those moments, Shyamalan's brilliance takes center stage, allowing us as viewers to pause and consider and finally realize, along with Walberg and Deschanel, that the glory of being human is our ability to choose love over fear, that within our most frail moments we have only two things: our fellow humans and the beauty of the physical world that surrounds us. Everything else fades into obscurity. This was meant to be the only answer and ironically, within our modern age, it was the one answer that most viewers could not seem to grasp.