What a slide down the tubes, from the 6th Sense, a clever movie with a twist so well-delivered that it had nations discussing it, to this! M.Night Shyamalan is seriously beginning to run out of fresh ideas to hang his hokey 'one trick pony' killer twists on.
The plot centres around a mild-mannered janitor, Cleveland, who discovers Story, the eponymous lady, one evening. During the course of the film, Cleveland discovers that Story is a very special person, who has an important mission to fulfill, but is in danger. As the film progresses, Cleveland and the other tenants of the apartment block discover that they have roles to play in Story's...errm....story.
Anyhoo...without giving away too many spoilers, the full tale is told (painfully slowly), and becomes so implausible that it snaps the oh-so-important element of suspension of belief, repeatedly! Firstly, there are the stupid names.
Secondly, a whole apartment block of fairly diverse characters are ready to completely and unquestioningly drop their rationale and start believing in this far fetched tale, which includes giant eagles, grass rats and invisible evil tree-monkeys. Sure! Okay! It's a film after all, and let's face it, there are films which have crazier plot-lines. The problem is that the mundane and the fantastic does not gel here. (In fact, it never seems to gel in any M.Night Shyamalan film anymore). People are quite happy to just go along with the whole thing without ever questioning their reasoning or their sanity.
Thirdly, the acting is just god-awful. I'm pretty sure that an actor doesn't need much motivation to play a part where the role is to just play an apartment tenant, but 90% of the cast even struggle with that! I will give props, however, to the actress who played the oriental student living with her mother, and to the guy who had to train up one side of his body, not because his acting was much cop (it wasn't), but for actually training part of his body for the role.
Fourthly, there really were no outstanding moments throughout the whole film. No "Oh no!"s, or "YESS!" moments that had you rooting for the characters. Even the scene where Cleveland descends into the pool was about as thrilling as the opening scene where he is squishing a bug in a flat full of squeamish sisters. Even the ending is all very anti-climatic. It just...ends (which is a small mercy, but after having to put up with the agonizing nonsense that makes up the bulk of the film, the payoff is pretty dismal.
Fifthly (are we on five already??!!?), what the hell was the point with the movie critic? Was it supposed to be some sort of inner joke, or a challenge to the audience (at one point) to try to second-guess the outcome, or a metaphor for a separation of what is real and what is just a movie? Whatever Shyamalan had in mind, it didn't work. In fact, it riled me considerably.
There are sixthlys, seventhly's, and even a sixteently, but I don't want to start giving away spoilers for anyone who might actually watch this film, and I'm getting a bit fed up with writing so much on this film already, when there are better efforts in a similar vein from any number of other directors.
Having said all that, the film wasn't a total loss. There were a few redeeming moments, and I suppose it had a moral (something about how our actions influence others, or how you should never give up on your inner child or some-such), and my best compliment on the whole film is "At least it wasn't as pitifully bad as the Village", however, I personally think that the film is a Razzy contender for sure, and Shyamalan should consider taking up poultry farming. He seems to have a knack in producing some big old turkeys!
ADDITIONAL EDIT: I initially gave the movie 3 stars. After seeing that Shyamalan chose to give himeslf an important and messianical role in his own film, I was appalled enough to come back and edit this critique. The sheer AUDACITY of the guy! There is nothing wrong with an ego that deserves praise, but this very act of Shyamalan implementing himself in the role of a writer who will change the course of history is mental narcissism to a sickening degree.
I hope that Shyamalan NEVER makes another film ever again, no matter how good he thinks he is, he has lost touch with the very people he is supposed to be making these films for, and creating castles in the sky based on nothing more than hype and the success of one single film. He should have listened to Disney. They may be commercial, but they at least know how to make popular & successful films.
The plot centres around a mild-mannered janitor, Cleveland, who discovers Story, the eponymous lady, one evening. During the course of the film, Cleveland discovers that Story is a very special person, who has an important mission to fulfill, but is in danger. As the film progresses, Cleveland and the other tenants of the apartment block discover that they have roles to play in Story's...errm....story.
Anyhoo...without giving away too many spoilers, the full tale is told (painfully slowly), and becomes so implausible that it snaps the oh-so-important element of suspension of belief, repeatedly! Firstly, there are the stupid names.
Secondly, a whole apartment block of fairly diverse characters are ready to completely and unquestioningly drop their rationale and start believing in this far fetched tale, which includes giant eagles, grass rats and invisible evil tree-monkeys. Sure! Okay! It's a film after all, and let's face it, there are films which have crazier plot-lines. The problem is that the mundane and the fantastic does not gel here. (In fact, it never seems to gel in any M.Night Shyamalan film anymore). People are quite happy to just go along with the whole thing without ever questioning their reasoning or their sanity.
Thirdly, the acting is just god-awful. I'm pretty sure that an actor doesn't need much motivation to play a part where the role is to just play an apartment tenant, but 90% of the cast even struggle with that! I will give props, however, to the actress who played the oriental student living with her mother, and to the guy who had to train up one side of his body, not because his acting was much cop (it wasn't), but for actually training part of his body for the role.
Fourthly, there really were no outstanding moments throughout the whole film. No "Oh no!"s, or "YESS!" moments that had you rooting for the characters. Even the scene where Cleveland descends into the pool was about as thrilling as the opening scene where he is squishing a bug in a flat full of squeamish sisters. Even the ending is all very anti-climatic. It just...ends (which is a small mercy, but after having to put up with the agonizing nonsense that makes up the bulk of the film, the payoff is pretty dismal.
Fifthly (are we on five already??!!?), what the hell was the point with the movie critic? Was it supposed to be some sort of inner joke, or a challenge to the audience (at one point) to try to second-guess the outcome, or a metaphor for a separation of what is real and what is just a movie? Whatever Shyamalan had in mind, it didn't work. In fact, it riled me considerably.
There are sixthlys, seventhly's, and even a sixteently, but I don't want to start giving away spoilers for anyone who might actually watch this film, and I'm getting a bit fed up with writing so much on this film already, when there are better efforts in a similar vein from any number of other directors.
Having said all that, the film wasn't a total loss. There were a few redeeming moments, and I suppose it had a moral (something about how our actions influence others, or how you should never give up on your inner child or some-such), and my best compliment on the whole film is "At least it wasn't as pitifully bad as the Village", however, I personally think that the film is a Razzy contender for sure, and Shyamalan should consider taking up poultry farming. He seems to have a knack in producing some big old turkeys!
ADDITIONAL EDIT: I initially gave the movie 3 stars. After seeing that Shyamalan chose to give himeslf an important and messianical role in his own film, I was appalled enough to come back and edit this critique. The sheer AUDACITY of the guy! There is nothing wrong with an ego that deserves praise, but this very act of Shyamalan implementing himself in the role of a writer who will change the course of history is mental narcissism to a sickening degree.
I hope that Shyamalan NEVER makes another film ever again, no matter how good he thinks he is, he has lost touch with the very people he is supposed to be making these films for, and creating castles in the sky based on nothing more than hype and the success of one single film. He should have listened to Disney. They may be commercial, but they at least know how to make popular & successful films.