Yawn

Rating: 4/10 (21 September 2008)

I seem to be the only person who recognizes how poorly written M. Night Shyamalan's films are. Is it because I'm a Hitchcock aficionado? No. I just have an ability to read narrative arcs and see where things are going. It was obvious that Bruce Willis was dead in The Sixth Sense, that Samuel L. Jackson was the bad guy in Unbreakable, and that, well, Signs sucked altogether. Perhaps I demand too much, ot perhaps it's because I see in MNS a burgeoning Spike Lee or Steven Spielberg- i.e.- someone with a great eye but no knack for storytelling. My advice: become a cinematographer, or write better tales! This, especially, goes out to MNS, since he writes his films, and all are 'twist ' films- dependent upon that final reveal.
This film had potential to be as great a work of art as that other great fictive The Village- from the 1967 TV show The Prisoner, but it fails miserably on all levels. MNS wouldn't know a well-written script if you beat him with it. Am I repeating myself? Let me range a little more- I am tired of mere cinematographers posing as auteurs. Learn narrative arcs. Perhaps I do expect too much- like character development, plausible plots, etc. and tales not based on a twist, but situations that logically and/or organically grow out of situation.
Yet, a quick review of professional critics' reviews was astounding, for most seemed to miss that this was a film not set in the 19th Century- instead believing that some time tripping had occurred. As for the extras? There's no commentary, thankfully, for the featurettes are fellatric enough- including a heinous diary by Bryce Howard, and an execrable bit of another of MNS's bad home movies from childhood. He seems to put far more care into his childhood films selected for the DVDs than he does his actual grown up films. In short, MNS delivers another film with a good premise, but lousy execution in all aspects. I've given up on him as a film director, but I'm sure he's got his next twist film already in the works. (Sigh!)