Lisa and I lifted our year-long ban on seeing movies in the theaters for the opening of M. Night Shyamalan‘s latest flick, Lady in the Water. Alright, it wasn’t actually a ban, so much as laziness. Heck, we even tried to see The Devil Wears Prada once, but it was sold out. Anywho, what was I talking about?
Let me start by saying that I am an M. Night fan. I’ve loved each of his four major films (nobody really counts the first two) and can watch them over and over again. With that out of the way, if you’re not a fan of his, this movie ain’t gonna change your mind. I actually loved the plot, and most of the script, but the pacing felt too slow due to a lack of suspense for much of the film. He still demonstrates a great eye for direction and a fantastic sense of combining reality and mythology, but it just doesn’t gell as well as his previous efforts. I will say that the second half picks up a much stronger pace, and came off as more of the film I was expecting.
This really isn’t much of a review, as I’m just too tired to act like I’m really a critic. I think I just wanted to brag about seeing a film – on its opening night no less.
I want to go see this while it’s still in theaters, and not let it fall to the list of movies Eva and I end up picking up on DVD because we couldn’t find a free evening to go see a movie together.
Especially since I read about it’s less-than-amazing box office numbers, in an article that basically amount to 90% of people just now realizing (after 2 “Pirates” films) that Johnny Depp is a good actor. Shyamalan will always have his fans and critics, but it bugs me that people might get the impression that the numbers for Lady in the Water support the slump in movies over the last few years, rather than the other way around.
If they can write an article about this summer’s dissappointing movie sales without mentioning “Little Man,” then the article really doesn’t deserve a reading, in my opinion.