Perhaps not respectable, but definitely worth watching

Rating: Null/10 (5 August 2004)

Shyamalan is a great story teller and a great conceiver-of-plots. I however, will not go so far as to say he is a good writer. The dialogue in this film is choppy since he tries to have them speak some colonial English, and, just like all of his other films, every line is dramatic (its OK to have some normal, every-day-ish dialogue!) This has been a noticeable problem in all of his films, if you ask me. However, by the end of the film, even though I had known the "twist" from the beginning, I was kept on the edge of my seat. Despite the obnoxious writing, I did get involved with the characters. Bryce Howard is amazing. Adrien Brody is a nice touch. Joaquin Pheonix... gets the job done. I'd say this is my favorite Shyamalan film yet, though I now it could have been better.