Z/Web

Author: M. Night Shyamalan

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Disappointing film. It’s interesting and has a few neat moments, but overall it’s much ado about nothing. I was expecting the revolation about the characters to be something profound or unusual, but there’s nothing like that. The story’s simply about a water nymph that must be returned home, that’s it. That could have been enough, if the film didn’t build our expectations so much higher. But there are so many mysterious things — strangely named characters, odd non-sensical behaviors, etc. — that you expect the resolution to explain all of that and it doesn’t. My theory — which I came up with based on a misunderstanding of an article I read about the film — was that the characters were all part of a story and trying to get back into it. That made all the weird people make sense, as they were not complete people but characters escaped from a book. That was not the case, of course, but I unfortunately liked my version better than the one in the movie!

Fun silly movie that’s a little too dark and serious at times. None of the characters are fleshed out and the neurotic super-heroine is just crazy — her romantic appeal is implausible. But that’s nitpicky stuff in such a silly film: you watch this for the comic bits and just enjoy the fluff.