Shyamalan proves he has no idea what he is doing

Joel_Williams_h5e4

Score 3/10
This movie is based on a really good idea, that if explored by the right writer/director could have been a fantastic movie. Unfortunately it was written and directed by M Night Shyamalan who proves once again that Sixth Sense and Split were just flukes. 

Starting off, the dialogue and acting were both pretty bad. From the very first scene the themes of the movie are not-so-expertly shoved down your throat. The dialogue felt so unnatural that none of the characters really felt like they were actual people, they all pretty much served the plot. All the acting was either flat and emotionless, or just straight up awful, which didn't help things.

Shyamalan usually does a better job of directing than writing, but in this movie his direction manages to be just as bad as the script. A director is supposed to show us what is important, but for this movie it seems like Shyamalan went a little overboard on trying to create mystery, to the point where he didn't even know what the camera was supposed to show most of the time, so half of the shots end up being out of focus or just pointing at something completely irrelevant. 

The themes of the movie are very obvious, but unfortunately they are not really explored in any meaningful way. For the entire runtime the themes are only really explored at a vague surface level. Shymalan prioritises trying to make it an almost horror movie instead of actual meaningful philosophical conflict. It just feels like a waste of a great idea with so much potential.

There are a few good ideas in the movie, but they are meshed with a whole lot of terrible ones, which just ruin it. It basically feels like Shyamalan took a first draft of the script, hired the first actors who auditioned, and used the first shots he took, and then rushed the editing process. Like he was trying to speedrun making a movie. It is truly painful to sit through at times.

3/10