a disappointing exercise in oh so tired formulas.

Rating: 1/10 (26 January 2005)

I really approached this movie optimistically, "maybe Shyamalan has finally got some class?" I'd hoped. The trailer looked great,the cast looked hot and the hype was there. For the first half an hour I was happily entertained, It all looked nice, I smiled, I laughed, I jumped in fright, this isn't so bad. Shyamalan really does have polished skills as a director and can create and hold tension like few others. I could (but won't) like so many others, go into great detail trying to rationalise and question the reality of the film. There's no question in my mind i found the premise absurd but I feel that so many people are missing the whole point by petty squabbling about it being unrealistic or predictable (I didn't see it coming too early, then again I do tend to go all passive whilst entertained). No, the problem wasn't with the directing, it is the writing. You see in my opinion there's one blinding error in the writing and when you see it it opens the whole thing up to it's hollow bones. I think it is this,he writes all of his films backwards from the twist. He paints himself into a corner with what he considers a great surprise ending, then goes backwards spending all the time in the film before the twist,simply arguing his way out of the corner. And that is just bad storytelling. Given this knowledge you can then watch the film again and see that almost every line of dialogue leading up to the inevitable twist is simply explaining away any questions about the validity of the twist. About as naturalistic as mj's looks and to be honest I was simply left cold and slightly angry. Gotta give him credit though he's made a career out of films which you can write in 30 seconds and simply fill out to 2 hours. I'd suggest letting someone else do the writing next time. Ha ha I really had you going there didn't I? Actually I'M M Night Shyamalan and this was all a big hoax!!! You fools!!!!! Of course I love this film! Oh will these twists ever get tiresome? I think not! M night forever!