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Initial Thought: To be honest I haven't had much disliking for M. Night Shyamalan. He has only made two films I've hated. This however looked to be quite ridiculous. I'm only watching this because working in a movie theater has its perks. I have to be honest I probably wouldn't have watched this as soon as I have otherwise. Hopefully the movie is better than the trailer gives it credit for.
Characters/Acting: The familiarity with the cast is pretty low given how little known actors are in it. Everyone here who I know of is fairly average. Becca was pretty plain jane. At least it was different to have the main girl want to be the filmmaker instead of the usual boy. Tyler is an okay character. His rapping scenes are a bit silly though. Why is it that any side character who has an interaction with the kids used to be an actor? That is a bit far-fetched if you ask me. I thought the best performances were definitely the grandparents though. They pulled off their creepiness well. The characters reactions to many things just felt so phony.
Story: A single mother finds that things in her family's life go very wrong after her two young children visit their grandparents. I had no idea this was a found footage film. At least they sort of give a reason for it here. Guess I wasn't really paying attention when the trailer came out. Phones don't work, but internet does. Then later there is mention of no WiFi. That makes no sense since Skype is used and it's clear. A lot of dimwitted decisions are made by all the characters. I was kind of bored with everything here. It just lacked that drive to make it enjoyable. The twist itself was just okay and could have been so much better than it was. The ending was just kind of boring. The concept may have had potential with a different director and a harder rating.
Directing/Writing: M. Night Shyamalan hasn't been doing too well lately in the eyes of movie goers. For me though I only ever hated The Village and The Last Airbender. Other than those I have been pleasantly entertained. His twists are always really good and that's his trademark. While I didn't like The Village it did have an interesting twist. It was just an overall disappointing movie. Anyways I'm hoping that he pulls together for this one although the trailer is probably the worst looking of all his movies. What ever happened to this genius? He started off strong with the likes of Unbreakable or The Sixth Sense. It's like he really doesn't care about anything besides a nice twist at the end. He has lost his entertainment value.
Final Thoughts: So once again Mr. Shyamalan has failed to impress. A lot of the time when I think a movie is going to be bad I get surprised. This time it was pretty much how I expected it to be. It really isn't all that funny. A lot of it doesn't make a lick of sense. The twist makes the rest of it feel a bit ludicrous. If you are avoiding Shyamalan keep doing so. He still hasn't picked himself back up again.
