creepy and intelligent - gets your attention and keeps it

Rating: 9/10 (1 February 2002)

I was so impressed with this movie. It's smart, you don't get anything handed to you - it requires that you make an effort to figure out what's going on, and pays off beautifully. It's not just the story, because that by itself is not that original. It's the way the idea was expanded and executed by a very talented writer-director.
Nicole Kidman handled her role extremely well, but I was expecting her to, having read a ton of positive reviews. Also, I've always considered her a very talented actress. But I was just amazed by how well the two children did: they were simply brilliant, especially the girl. In fact, The Others was well acted all around.
Some reviews claimed this movie was slow. Huh? Maybe in that there were no explosions or video clip editing. So what? If the writing, design, cinematography, music, and everything else mentioned before work so well, who cares? The pace suits the movie just fine. I'll take The Others over fast paced junk any time.