Samantha and I went to see Lady in the Water tonight at the West side Warren theater tonight. We went to the west side Warren because it was the only theater left in town that was showing it. It’s only been out for two and a half weeks. Let me tell you what I thought of it. Let me say that I am not a movie critic, but I love movies and believe that I have seen quite a few.
First of all, this movie probably would have gotten great reviews if it had been directed by anyone else other than M. Night Shyamalan. Don’t get me wrong, he did a wonderful job with the movie. What I mean by that statement is that everyone went to the theater expecting something with suspense, horror, and major plot twists. They went expecting to see The Seventh Sense, or Still Unbreakable. I wish critics and audiences would realize that just because a director has had success with a few movies of a specific genre doesn’t mean that those are the only types of movies that he’ll ever do.
Lady in the Water was a bedtime story, as the audience was reminded several times throughout the film. If you accepted that premise up front, the movie was incredible. I admit that, before seeing the film, I had reservations about both Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard (I wasn’t totalled thrilled with the latter’s performance in The Village). Both actors shut out those reservations. Both Cleveland Heep and Story were very convincing characters–ones I truly felt an emotional connection with. The other side characters were lighter and more transparent, but such was their function in the story. They were meant to be one-dimensional archetypes of a bedtime story, and inasmuch fulfilled their role wonderfully.
Like most of M. Night’s movies, the thematic element present in the film–Purpose–was simple and clear (but not childish). The plot did not have one huge twist right at the end, which Shyamalan’s audiences are accustomed to, but many smaller ones along the way. There were also more light moments in this film compared to his previous suspense films. The artwork/photography was outstanding; I have come to expect nothing less from Night.
When I discuss movies with people, I usually avoid comparing them with other films and try to evaluate each movie on its own merit. In this case, when others compared Lady to M. Night Shyamalan’s other movies, they saw a flop (and the box office has reflected that). When I compared it to his other movies, I saw a breath of fresh air, and a renewed excitement to see what Shyamalan has in store for his future storytelling ventures.
My recommendation–if you missed it in the theaters, rent it as soon as it comes out.
Ryan
