Deeper into mediocrity

Rating: 1/10 (12 March 2005)

I suppose that if I'd seen 'Sixth Sense' from the vantage point of knowing in advance the sort of films Shyamalan makes, I might have expected the twists, and been less amazed. It didn't happen with 'Unbreakable' though - again he kept me glued until the revelations, especially the totally unexpected last one.
When I came to 'The Village', though, I had all that foreknowledge, together - having seen 'Signs' - with the awareness that MKS is entirely capable of making utter dogs as well. 'Village' was not a real surprise, therefore, except in its sheer awfulness.
This is deeply bad, and you have to wonder: does MKS know it? Is he spending the time between these successively poorer works writhing internally, tortured by his inability to reclaim the magic? Pressured by the expectation of his peers and his public to produce more rabbits from his now apparently empty hat? It's clear that he's reaching for the same formula: 1-2-3 dazzling revelations in close succession that leave the audience giddy with delight and admiration for the way they've been manipulated and misled.
It's not working anymore, though: and the mutilations of plausibility that bringing these revelations to light entails have become so grievous that they go way past what is possible with mere suspension of disbelief, and now require either base intellectual negligence or hallucinogenic drugs. Sure - send the blind girl! Yes - lock the loony in the room with the costume under the floorboards! Fine - let's make the first guy she meets have access to antibiotics! Perfect - no-one will notice!
You should have quit while you were ahead, M, which was just after 'Unbreakable'. Maybe a decade cogitating in the wilderness would have allowed some cream to rise. The current helpings of watery skimmed milk are a waste of everyone's time and money.
CD