Lady in the Water

[meganbmoore]

Uhm...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.)

Comments

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Now I know you're looking forward to his live action versions of Avatar as much as I am...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

oh man...I had forgotten he was in charge of it.

well...it's a kids' movie...with established canon and style...I want to say "surely, he can't try to do TOO much with it...and there's all this good stuff he's starting with..."

And I could...until I watched this and realized that yes, you can t6ake things that should be enough to carry your movie on it's own merit and make them bog it down horribly.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

And don't forget the discussions on what the big reveal he'll add to it will be . . .

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I prefer not to ponder such potentially traumatizing things.

[fairest1.livejournal.com]

The entire movie is Iroh's dream! He's actually a senile old storyteller in the modern day who's been babbling to the empty room, with padded walls because he insists on acting out the fight scenes.

[maxineofarc.livejournal.com]

I have only the following to say: Narf. Scrunt. Tartutic. Snore.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes. I tried to force myself to pay attention to that part, but really, I didn't need to know it.

[kinkytinky.livejournal.com]

Wow, a movie we have a similar opinion about. Shyamalama deserves credit for that, at least.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Let me put it this way: the only reason it was watched was because Myles and Jen will likely ask if I've watched the movies they gave me yet on Tuesday.

The only time I can remotely get why anyone would like Shyamalan is Unbreakable, and even there I have to be forgiving.

I'm just in awe that he managed to make this so amazingly dull...I mean, I've never encountered boring meta about stories within stories before, and until today, didn't think that was possible.

And the explaining of the underwater world and how she ended up in the pool makes the Davy Jones curse in POTC look like the most brillisntly, perfectly explained thing ever. Which just makes it all the sadder, really.

[fa3ryg1rl.livejournal.com]

I was excited about this movie before I saw it. I had such high expectations. It could have really been good! But I found myself fast forwarding through parts....it just sucked.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yup. The thing is that the mere elements of the movie should have at least made it able to hold attention for 2 hours...instead, the way they were done made it a struggle to last 2 hours.