The movie starts with a graphic backstory explaining the supernatural elements and the plot. That is fine. But immediately after, it cuts to a shot of the main character, an unattractive middle-aged man killing something off screen. He does the worst fake stutter I have ever seen, and we are sort of introduced to the wacky characters around him. These characters are racial stereotypes trying to be "unique" which also are not funny.
Honestly, I could tell immediately that this was written, produced, and directed by a man (the same man, in fact). It is like a male fantasy dream, which is probably what they were going for. There's this awkward guy that's a loser, and a sexy naked young woman appears before him. I hate how the movie tries to create this sexual tension between Story and Cleveland (also who named these characters???) Cleveland even says himself that she's just a child. Am I supposed to applaud how he asks her to sleep in a different room? How he asks her to put on clothes in front of him? I'm sorry, but I find the whole situation unnecessary and awful. I hate watching this guy. I do not feel sympathetic and empathize with him. I find him creepy, which makes this movie really hard to enjoy.
The movie itself has very bad direction and script. I just didn't know what was happening most of the time, and the movie never explains it. What it does explain is the bigger picture of the events. But I think that is what ruins it. The bigger picture of a movie should be something that the audience should figure out. By explaining the ultimate goal of the characters and meaning of their assistance, they leave nothing for the audience to figure out.
M. Night Shyamalan is not my favorite director. He takes himself way too seriously (which worked well in Sixth Sense). All of the jokes that should be light heartening, are at another character's expense and I find them to be inappropriate. For example, when one of the tenants talk about how her husband has a growth on his backside. This is not funny. I feel worse for him than the main character who had his feelings hurt because they called an actual professional.
Also, I felt it was incredibly pretentious how Shyamalan casts himself in this movie. Did he feel the need to explain himself or his directing style? It would have been so much better if the writer character wasn't an analogy for himself. It insinuates that this movie's story itself is supposed to change the world, but the movie itself can't figure out what it is about. It dances around ideals of finding oneself and destiny, but it never really displays these themes in the script.
This may just be my liberal views, but instead of the lady being fairly useless and pure, I want to see something new. I want this eastern legend to actually be portrayed by eastern characters. I want this woman to gather the support of those around her herself. This movie makes me want so much more, and it does not deliver. Maybe I was born in the wrong generation for this movie. I feel it's written for the American "baby boomer" generation. These middle-aged single men must want this adventure fantasy that society seemed to promise them when they were young.
It also kind of amazes me that this movie took 75 Million dollars to create. Apparently they built this apartment complex specifically for this movie. The viewer never even gets to see the whole thing. What a waste. They could have easily rented a building, and used the magic of filmmaking to put it together. I feel like Shyamalan is just throwing his money away for "artistic integrity".
This is a kind of movie that you either adore, or hate. In this case, I fall in the latter, but there are some people out there that for some reason actually like this movie. To me though, there's a reason this movie has a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's just really lazy filmmaking to me and could be so much more than it is. I want out of these stereotype, preachy films Shyamalan keeps making.
It also kind of amazes me that this movie took 75 Million dollars to create. Apparently they built this apartment complex specifically for this movie. The viewer never even gets to see the whole thing. What a waste. They could have easily rented a building, and used the magic of filmmaking to put it together. I feel like Shyamalan is just throwing his money away for "artistic integrity".
This is a kind of movie that you either adore, or hate. In this case, I fall in the latter, but there are some people out there that for some reason actually like this movie. To me though, there's a reason this movie has a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes. It's just really lazy filmmaking to me and could be so much more than it is. I want out of these stereotype, preachy films Shyamalan keeps making.
