In my first article I wasn't expecting a midnight movie, whereas here I was. As the saying goes, typically when you're looking for something you don't find it.After talking with some people, this seems to be Shyamalan's first actual horror film, even going to all the trouble to have it released on the only Friday the 13th of the year. Knowing that may be the best part of this article for some of you.
Rule #1 of a horror film: The cast should be made up of B-list actors, so as not to distract the audience.
Even before seeing the movie, we are already thinking about Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg excels at two things: looks, and using weapons. As you'd expect, neither of these qualities are utilized in this film. Neither of these are usual qualities of a Shyamalan film either, so already there is a bad mismatch even before seeing the film.
Rule #2 of a horror film: The monster or evil is only a secondary evil. The primary evil is usually not a monster, but another human being, or human beings that lack moral convictions. The primary evil is usually killed off by the secondary evil, finally revealing that the secondary evil isn't as evil as once thought, and may actually not be evil.
This is where the movie fails. Everyone in the movie is vulnerable. Whether they're a good person or a "bad" person. The primary evil in this movie is humanity itself. While at times Shyamalan points out little things about our society, primarily how our concern for money doesn't disappear in times of crisis or how people are selfish even when they need not be (or overly unselfish * 10), he fails to recognize any good in humanity. In the end we are led to believe that those who survived were merely lucky.
As for how the movie plays out, it simply drags on. No one is sure what's going on, and what it is they are running from. Only towards the end are we introduced to a truly horrific person, which again has no real bearing on the movie, either. Throughout the movie are disturbing visuals, though I found them ridiculous, in most cases. If you can't tell from the previews, then let me just spell it out better: The movie is about people just spontaneously killing themselves. One minute they act very confused, then the next thing you see is them taking a conveniently placed sharp object and cutting themselves. Sometimes this was too far fetched, for instance there is a scene where a cop kills himself with his gun, then the gun falls to ground. It is then expectedly picked up by another, and another, etc. Some of these people seem to go needlessly out of their way, for being so confused. While this makes for great visuals, it fails in any sense of reality, which unlike Doomsday, seemed to be a goal of the film.
I give the film 2.5/5 stars for stunning visuals alone. As for acting, and story, and all those other things so important to a movie, don't come to theater expecting those.
1 comment:
I don't think Shyamalan was going for, "Every human being is horrible," or even that those who survived were "merely lucky." I think it was more that those who respected nature enough to realize that nature could actually be a threat to them were the ones who survived. Think about it. Until Wahlburg's character came into contact with the couple that talked with plants and learned that plants reacted to human stimuli did he begin to know what to watch for. Before that, everyone thought they were being threatened by other humans, and most people that believed that died. Those people did not esteem nature's abilities enough for it to even cross their minds that it could be the very earth that was threatening their existence. I believe Shyamalan was simply saying that we need to respect the earth more than we do and take care of it before our actions backfire on us.
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