...have you seen them all? When it comes to the films of M. Night Shyalaman it may well be. That's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just that I came away thinking much of the film was very, very similar to the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, both of which I enjoyed.
The film spends most of its time in the home of a reverend who's lost his faith, his brother and his two children, all of whom are vividly portrayed with strong performances from Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, McAulay Culkin's brother Rory and a cute little girl whose name I missed. Phoenix redeems himself for his hilarious performance in Gladiator (the one thing which spoilt an otherwise decent film for me) with a restrained display.
I won't spend too much time on the plot, suffice to say Shyalaman's recurring themes of faith, the supernatural/extra-terrestrials and existentialism come through strongly once more.
The direction is excellent throughout. Shyalaman keeps the pace just right, leaving plenty to the audience's inagination and the film contains many wonderfully positioned shots. The use of sound is consistently good, if a touch cliched at times. He maintains genuine tension for the final two thirds of the film, mainly by keeping the viewer in the house. This gives a convincing insight into what it could be like to be in the characters' positions and, for me, this was what made the film.
The conclusion of the film isn't perfect and is signposted throughout the film, but it didn't detract from the enjoyment at all. Most Hollywood film endings are a little trite anyway, so at least Shyalaman kept the ending brief!
All in all I did thoroughly enjoy the film and what's more I have no idea how long the film was as I didn't look at my watch once :-)
There's no Sixth Sense style twist, but overall I think it's a better film.
In this and "Insomnia", there's a couple of films out at the moment that are well worth your six quid, and it's been a while since I've felt able to say that!
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Advantages: Thought provoking, sad, exciting, scary, there are some many more advantages that if i write anymore i could be writing for ages. Disadvantages: None
Poison 01.11.2002 (04.11.2002)
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