Nicole Kidman delivers, the movie does not

Rating: Null/10 (19 June 2002)

THE OTHERS is certainly one of the best-looking ghost movies in years. Rich with atmosphere, you easily feel as if you really are inside a WW2-era English mansion. Without a doubt, the atmosphere is the next best thing in the movie besides Nicole Kidman. She scores a bullseye with her performance as a mother of two young children living in a mansion on one of the English Channel islands, a mansion which appears to be haunted. Her daughter claims to have seen some of the spirits, and the new team of helpers who have arrived know more than they're letting on.
Unfortunately, the well-set up film fails to deliver. The story meanders seemingly forever, and I can't even recall how many times I found myself glancing at the clock to see how much time had passed during the first thirty minutes alone. The pacing is terrible. Some scenes go on too long. Others just fail to be effective. The suspense is almost non-existent with the possible exception of a few moments here and there, but even then it's rather lackluster, with only some good performances to keep you awake.
Alakina Mann and James Bentley are good as the kids, though why must one of them always be a little brat who likes to torment the other and mouth off? It's getting tiresome. Fionnula Flanagan is the next best element of the film, but otherwise, there's not much to get out of the movie. The story drags and drags until the final ten minutes or so when things finally began to pick up, only to lead to a twist ending that (while unexpected) seems just as much of a cop-out as the ending to THE SIXTH SENSE. Thanks to that overrated film, ghost story movies now feel they must offer a "shocking twist ending." At best, this could have worked as a short film of about fifteen or twenty minutes. But as it is, it's just like THE SIXTH SENSE: nice to look at, but ultimately completely unsatisfying.