Weak directing; Terrible screenplay; mediocre acting

Rating: 1/10 (8 July 2001)

I was very disappointed with this film. On several levels.
The screenplay (plot) was awful. I can't understand why so many people liked this story, why it has gotten so many 8-out-of-10 votes. I did really like M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense," and I guess I was expecting more of the same. The premise of this movie had potential -- I like the idea of a (super) hero existing, undiscovered, even to himself, among our midsts. But with a guy in his 40s? Am I to believe that this hero never figured it out his whole life, but then some crankpot comic book dealer enlightens him? It took the whole darn movie to reach this conclusion. This revelation should have been closer to the midpoint. That is, the hero scenes near the end should have been near the middle, and there should have been more acts of heroism, rather than dwelling on the past. And just how did the cripple (Jackson) with the glass-like body and bones manage to pull off all those terrorist acts? This stuff takes stealth and speed and some amount of physique. Pretty dubious if you ask me. Granted, my opinion, and others obviously disagree.
The movement was painstakingly slow. I kept waiting for character development, but it barely happened. This seems the fault of both direction and writing. What was the director doing? Where was the director during the overacting of Samuel Jackson? Where was the director during the (what should have been tense) bland, unemotional scenes between Bruce Willis and Robin White as they were averting breakup? I just didn't believe their relationship. Or his son.
Sorry, but this movie's a dog.