Lady in the Water
Dec. 30th, 2007 03:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreUhm...all I really have to say is that, with a world of sea folklore to choose from and endless material about stories to work from, I can't believe that all M. Night Shyamalan could come up with was a very, very dull story about a man who finds a sea nymph in the pool and the weakest, dullest, most pretentious meta about storytelling and story structure I've ever encountered.
In fact, I never would have believed that meta about storytelling within a story could be dull if I hadn't seen it for myself.
Seriously, this movie combines 2 of my favorite things: sea folklore and myth and meta about stories with a story...and I barely made it all the way through. As much as I complain about Shyamalan's inability to have anything resembling a decent twist(sorry, but when I can guess the big reveal in any of his movies from the trailer-except Signs, but that's because the trailer bored me too much for me to pay attention-and the movie revolves around the twist, I reserve the right to harp on it) I actually wish he'd TRIED something, just so being proved right was something to look forward to.
As it is, everything was just so average and moved so slowly, yet so clearly was supposed to be new and original and captivating and intelligent, that I'm amazed I sat through it all. And yes, I really did try to like it, due to my love of sea folklore, and especially when I realized it was going to try to go the meta about story structure route, but...no.
I could go on and on about it, like how it never even attempts to explain how a sea nymph and her hunter ended up in an apartment pool, or how it connects to her world, or how the hero wasn't remotely bothered by or questioning about or suspicious about being knocked out outside and then finding a naked woman in his room, or how not a single person in the complex doubted that it was real, or...well, honestly, pretty much anything about the plot, but really, I'd rather just do something enjoyable.
I shall just pretend Unbreakable is the only movie he has made(which was also wholly predictable from the trailers, but I forgive it because it actually has good fanboy meta about comics.)
In fact, I never would have believed that meta about storytelling within a story could be dull if I hadn't seen it for myself.
Seriously, this movie combines 2 of my favorite things: sea folklore and myth and meta about stories with a story...and I barely made it all the way through. As much as I complain about Shyamalan's inability to have anything resembling a decent twist(sorry, but when I can guess the big reveal in any of his movies from the trailer-except Signs, but that's because the trailer bored me too much for me to pay attention-and the movie revolves around the twist, I reserve the right to harp on it) I actually wish he'd TRIED something, just so being proved right was something to look forward to.
As it is, everything was just so average and moved so slowly, yet so clearly was supposed to be new and original and captivating and intelligent, that I'm amazed I sat through it all. And yes, I really did try to like it, due to my love of sea folklore, and especially when I realized it was going to try to go the meta about story structure route, but...no.
I could go on and on about it, like how it never even attempts to explain how a sea nymph and her hunter ended up in an apartment pool, or how it connects to her world, or how the hero wasn't remotely bothered by or questioning about or suspicious about being knocked out outside and then finding a naked woman in his room, or how not a single person in the complex doubted that it was real, or...well, honestly, pretty much anything about the plot, but really, I'd rather just do something enjoyable.
I shall just pretend Unbreakable is the only movie he has made(which was also wholly predictable from the trailers, but I forgive it because it actually has good fanboy meta about comics.)