2 Hours, Not 10 Minutes.

Rating: 9/10 (2 August 2004)

Seeing so many comments and posts here focusing solely on "did you guess the twist?", I feel the need to remind everyone that there is a whole movie here, not just an ending. I am really fascinated by this film. I think this film presents such a strong commentary on so many things... the controlling power of fear, the struggle of dealing with things we don't wish to deal with and the natural tendency to try to escape it and avoid it, the sacrifices we make without question for love, not love for yourself, but for others, the natural compassion we feel towards a stranger in need and how horribly twisted this compassion has become today, to the point where we mistrust and are afraid to take concern of anyone but ourselves, and the choices that face us when we make sacrifices to accomplish something and then must continue to make in the face of adversity to keep with what you have started, to succeed for the greater good of those you made those choices for.
There's plenty of modern day significance too. There is the difference between infatuation and love, between self-preservation and life-preservation, between knowing and believing and the gripping, influential power of each. It's easy to find social commentaries on right and wrong (the interplay of speak-no-evil-Lucius, see-no-evil-Ivy, hear-no-evil-Noah), the unwavering love of parents for their mentally disturbed son, and the love and acceptance of the community for this person when we often ignore and don't bother to try to understand such people today, the political commentary on perceived fear (as one amusing reviewer put it, "are there weapons of mass destruction in the woods?") and on the trust and faith we put in our leaders, and conversely on the choices they make and for what reasons. And of course, there are the big questions, "Who are we? Who should we be? Where can we go to find peace from the things that destroy us?"
If you haven't seen it, see it. Form your own opinion for sure, but I beg that you look at the film as a film and not as just a twist. Don't waste your 2 hours trying to predict the end, because whether you do predict it or you don't, that's not what it's all about. This isn't just a novelty, there is a real movie here with something to say, and it says it wonderfully. If you're waiting just for the end, you're going to miss the best stuff M. Night has to offer, which is not the twist(s).
I saw someone else used this quote on watching a movie just for the surprise ending, and I feel its worth repeating because it hits the nail on the head:
"It's no way to see a movie, because you're never unself-conscious enough to let the drama work on you; you're concentrated on the game. And at a certain point the whole exercise is rendered anticlimactic: The only suspense left is whether you got it right or not," (Stephen Hunter, Washington Post).
If you see the movie, I hope you enjoy the movie and not just whether or not you got it right. Or, I hope you don't like the movie, regardless of whether or not you figured the twist out beforehand. M. Night has a tough career ahead of him. Please do your best to at least respect him enough to judge his film, and not just your predictive skills.