Twisted Serling

Rating: 1/10 (7 August 2004)

Spoiler minefield...
Between Hitchcock and Rod Serling, our culture has lost something. I admit it, when I was young I tried watching every 'Twilight Zone' episode and learned something that some modern Hollywood writers still haven't caught on to.
I hate obvious twists like this movie because it is totally unimaginative. The premise is simple: a 2 hour film about a boy who sees dead people. Make us sit through said film and experience Osment's unbearable acting and silly shock scenes.
Then in the end, poke us in the eye and say "Ha ha, it was all a farce. Bruce Willis was really dead all along." As if a thousand episodes of what Rod Serling wrote 50 years ago hasn't prepared us for that.
If the film provides its twists earlier enough to have fun with them ('Fight Club') or leaves itself open for new twists ('The Wall', 'Usual Suspects') I can have some fun with it. Instead, Shyamalan wants to be Spielberg and have everything open-and-shut but the material demands otherwise.
So, Willis is dead and that's the end of it. Case closed, he ceases to exist. That this is in the IMDb Top 100 is beyond belief.
Final Analysis = = Cinematic Dud