Gee, I never saw the end coming from a mile away

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2004)

***SPOILERS HEREIN***
This fog-bound film is about as entertaining as a wake. Remember those corny old English creep-shows from the sixties and seventies, and they always took place on an English estate, and they always starred Christopher Lee? This movie looks like it was made in 1973.
Amenabar's choice to place the characters in the coldest setting imaginable, in spartan rooms, dressed in black, and with light so muted that we can't appreciate Kidman's natural beauty, all to emphasize the ultimate point about who the characters really are at the end of the film, is a dismal failure. Instead of enhancing the characters, this emphasized de-styling separates the viewer from the characters, keeping him from sympathizing with the story. I feel none of Grace's panic when the children are screaming, nor do I care the slightest about Grace's search for "intruders" in the house. For that matter, when hubby returns from abroad, the meeting is icy and distant, all for the ending's ultimate purpose of course, but to sacrifice what could have been a great film for the cheap gimmick that pops up at the end is a real shame. The mystery doesn't go deep enough, this film is all about appearances and surface details.
Oh, and you won't see the ending coming from a mile away.