Cathepsin

Logically, setting it in the present day adds a couple of dimensions that it wouldn't have had had it been set in the 1890's.

The elders seem to have held the view that in the good old days their loved ones wouldn't have been taken from them in the ways in which they were. I can't tell how ready they were to accept someone's death during complications from pregnancy or bacterial infection rather than from murder. I guess the elder Walker coudn't accept his daughter getting hurt twice in her life from the decision that he and the others made.

Really, the biggest twist is that there was no genuine supernatural activity. There were no ghosts, superheros, or aliens. There were good performances, set design, and images, although I could have done without the bumps in the score designed to get you to jump.

Patman

So no one has a problem with the blind girl actually making it through the forest? Hell, she should have broken a hip or her neck when she fell outside the "preserve". Unfortunately, M Night had to have a blind protagonist because otherwise, word would have spread if a sighted person saw the outside world. Unfortunately, having the blind girl Ivy actually making it through is akin to me winning the Mega Million Super Duper lottery, which is slim and none.

Cathepsin

Her blindess was not congenital, and might have been prevented with the right (modern) medical treatment.

kurupt

Hence the "I was sitting in that chair when I found out you had finally lost your sight. I was so ashamed," comment that I found odd until the "reveal" showed that he might have been able to help her.

JasonF

But would there have been alleys!?! Huh!?! WOULD THERE!?!

For the record, I agree with you for the most part. It's obvious Shyamalan was going for the whole "They're in the 21st century" being a big twist, and I think a lot of people feel cheated because they guessed. But if you watch the movie for the story, and not as some sort of guessing game, then you're right -- it's the same story (a good one, in my opinion), regardless of which century they are really in.

copiedline

I thought as an allegory it was pretty well done. I mean Walker is Bush right? Only way it'd be clearer is if they named him George. Using fear to try and control everyone. And for the colors, red = bad, yellow = safe, isn't that kinda like the terrorist warning color chart? It's a little out there, but I think it's pretty clear the film was meant as a social commentary.

Jackskeleton

Well it was noah after all that was killing the creatures. I find it sort of odd since the tard pretty much break down when he stabbed and killed another human, but was happy to kill plenty of livestock and show off the blood to the others.

Li

I assuming you're kidding but you can never be too sure around here.

PopcornTreeCt

I really don't think Shyamalan was going for that. I can see the similiarities but I honestly don't believe he made it as social commentary.

Cathepsin

How can you see it as anything but political? It's all about a group of leaders who tell lies to their people to keep them in line. You can read that as a criticism of George Bush, John Kerry, Osama Bin Laden, or Pope John Paul if you want to, but I think it's hard to deny that the movie has overtones about how power is used and knowledge is shared.

Jackskeleton

also, "7 year old BODY was found that was missing for three days"

looks to be just more violent news in the paper.

Superboy

I pretty much guessed the outcome of the movie when i heard the premise - but i honestly thought that it would be something different. Roger Ebert is right - the failing of the movie is that the premise is too transparent. I'm not saying I could have done a better job, but I expected something more clever from someone like M. Night.

das Monkey

In this respect, I feel fortunate to have seen the whole thing coming. I figured out the premise in the first couple of minutes and then just watched the movie for what it was. I wasn't mad when it played out as I expected, and I don't really understand why so many others feel that way. In any case, I found myself just watching the story and not worrying about whether I was going to be surprised or not, and I found it -- for the most part -- to be pretty enjoyable.

das

scott shelton

Good Christ, no. Not at all.

DVDho78DTS

Just saw it tonight & enjoyed it but is my least favorite of his past 4 films; that isn't saying much since I loved the past 3. The theater actually clapped more for it than Spider-Man 2 which surprised me.

I look forward to watching it again.

Jackskeleton

my issue with that is.. what was the extent of her blindness? when she was racing with noah she sure knew when to make the turn just right. at times she seemed like she could make out small amounts of things while other times she was completely blind as a bat.

what was with the colors also? she could see in colors on a select few? did she have a sixth sense for some people?

firteen88

I know the elders made an oath not to go into the town, but they also made an oath not to send any of the children into the town......now why would he send his blind daughter?? (she may kno her way around the village, but she doesnt know her way around the woods or the town0. luckily theyre just happen to be someone therewhen she went over the fence into the town. Why didnt he just go himself? granted he made an oath but WHAT THE HELL! If he went, he could have easily gotten the medicine he needed, and come back without any of the children being the wiser about the town. It would have been the best solution for the elders to have just sent him. Anyone agree, disagree?

das Monkey

If he went through the woods and came back, the fear of going into the woods would be gone. Sending Ivy allows them to maintain the illusion that the creatures wouldn't harm her because she's blind.

When did they make an oath not to send the children into the towns? I don't remember that in the film.

das

Jackskeleton

I think Firteen ment him going away for a day or two. perhaps saying he was sick or something of that nature. Elder WALKER was the, i guess owner of the perserve since it was the WALKER rangers that found Ivy. either way, I'm sure he would be more recognized.

Hell, he could have even made up some bullshit that he went into the woods to strike a deal with the beast. but there comes the silly oath again.. and for the record, he didn't give an oath that his daughters or any of the young would go back.. only that the elders (which there was more then 6 mind you) were never to leave.

firteen88

I dont know if they specifically made an oath, but they obviously didn't want the children to leave the village. He could have gone into town, gotten the medicine and helped Lucious without any of the children knowing. May be a bit of a stretch, but so is sending a blind person into an unknown area and expecting her to make it back successfully.

Jackskeleton

She could see colors.. that's far from blind if you ask me.

RyoHazuki

Just got back from seeing it. Not really sure how I feel about it yet. I liked it, but I'm not sure how much I liked it yet. I considered it being present day about an hour into it. At first, I was mildly dissapointed but I respect for Shaymalan for not just making Signs 2. I'd recommend seeing it even though its not as good as his previous three.

Joem

Half our theater liked it, half seemed to hate it...was definitely a polarizing film (and that seems to stand evident based on some of the responses here).


Some thoughts:

-I personally think it's my 2nd favorite film of his (6th Sense being my favorite). I went into the movie knowing there was a twist. I mean, c'mon, it's M. Night (and whoever it was that said that the majority of ppl don't go to a M. Night film expecting a twist is WAY off, imo). But honestly, I didn't spend any time trying to figure it out, and just went with the film.

-I remember when Joaquin got stabbed I thought "If he dies, I'm going to be pissed". At that point, I was really expecting it to be him to have to go through the woods. But as the movie progressed and it was all revealed, I totally dug it and could accept that he wasn't going to be the protagonist I wanted him to be.

-The monster reveal was just so-so, but the whole "preservation" thing was fantastic, to me. Rather Truman Show-esque.

-My wife sorta figured it out. The thing that she said tipped her off was the equal rights of the women. She figured that if it were the 1890's, how in the world were women allowed to speak up as much as they did (Sigourney doing the calming speech), more less be in positions of power (elder circle).

-One thing I've been pondering is the breeding issue. I want to see this again and see how many "adults" were in the village. If the only people that are "in" on the secret are the 10 or so (just a guess, I don't remember how many) elders, then is the entire village from that very limited breeding pool? It's the only thing that I'm a bit hung up on (oh, also what is his freakin' color!, heh).

-I normally agree with a lot of Ebert's reviews. I'm perhaps a bit more lenient than him, but I at least get where he's coming from when he bashes something. This is the first review of his (and I read him weekly) where I've 100% totally disagreed with him, and am amazed at how vehemently he slammed this film.

-Here's a final incendiary thought...as we were walking out the theater, my wife said "I think this is a movie that only smart people are going to like" (she loved it, fwiw). And of all the people I talked to about the movie today in real life, my experience has lined up with her thoughts (NOTE I said "real life" ppl, I'm not saying anything bad about the board dwellers ).

-Joem

Jackskeleton

See, that's the issue I was thinking about also. the breeding pool. I actually saw it twice. See, I hate M.Night that much that I gave his film a second chance..

and I noticed that there was a lot more families then the origianl 6 elders. Some of them actually looked older. I'm thinking that Lucious is in his mid to late 20's, he was in the picture with his mom so he could be one of the oldest of the next generation. Ivy is in her early 20's. That is why the story about the older womens sister getting raped at 23 hit her close to the heart.. perhaps her older sister is 23? This leaves the other kids to be the sort of brothers and sisters of the other families childerns.

Now I'm thinking that there is a lot of other non-elder families that just go along with the program. The elders really were just the ones that were the original group of the project. prehaps they got other people from the community center? either way, their is way more then the 6 elders families there.

As for the color thing. I like to believe that if M.Night actually developed some sort of film based only on the element of the love story, that perhaps his color would be red. I really would have liked to have the film focus more on their relationship.

... eh. oh well. Guess us stupid folks who like to nit pick films based on illogical flaws would much rather choose to nit pick instead of just letting ignorance be bliss.

Ginwen

The surprise wasn't really much of a surprise, since it first occurred to me within the first 20 minutes or so that maybe they were just making it up and were in modern times.

I still enjoyed watching the movie to see just how it played out; it was suspenseful for me even realizing that they were probably making it all up.