truemythmedia
Boring conversations in various apartments. No sense of wonder or magic, throughout.The only thing that keeps this from being M. Night Shyamalan's worst movie is that he has made several movies that are absolute stinking piles. As we follow his career, this is the start of a real downward dive. It is the first inklings of the movie crisis that is to come with "The Happening," "Last Airbender," and "After Earth."
swilliky
M. Night Shyamalan went for a meta approach to his fantasy film. The movie strives to deliver twists from the previous film but it fails on several accounts and ends up being rather dull. Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) is the handyman around an apartment complex fixing broken sinks and killing pests. He has a tragic past that he doesn't like to tell the residents about. When a woman named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) appears in the pool, she tells Cleveland extraordinary things that lead to a fantastical adventure.Hunting the lady in the water is the Scrunt, a grass-covered wolf. There are lots of rules and mythology brought into the movie but none of it comes to very much and the characters are almost as confused as I was watching it. The movie takes its time to introduce each resident living in the apartment complex including crossword puzzle solver Mr. Dury (Jeffrey Wright), movie critic Harry Farber (Bob Balaban), and the young college student Young-Soon Choi (Cindy Cheung) whose mother knows of a fairy tale and serves as an expositional tool.Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com
generationofswine
I can honestly say that I've never seen a movie like this.And I mean that in a good way. Shyamalan has never made a movie that was really like any other movie. Because of this he gets a lot of flack from the critics and the people as a whole.It's a shame, he started making movies when Hollywood stopped making movies. He's not afraid to make something new, to add a twist that is unique, to not make a re-make and because of that...people hate him."Adorable" I think would be the word for Lady in the Water. I felt like a little kid when I was watching it. Like a bed time story for adults.At first it seems sort of strange, the characters, the weird people you would meet in a apartment complex that only Hollywood could create...but it quickly spirals into a deeper story, one that is certainly for adults but still maintains a beautiful innocence.You soon find out that the auxiliary characters are anything but....and in a middle finger to the critics, Shyamalan places himself in a role that is sure to grab their ire.As I've said many times before, I value new, I value original and Lady in the Water is nothing I have ever seen before, a brilliant example of why I love Mr. Shyamalan's work.
iris-59130
I have to say, I was doubtful at first, but was quickly drawn in by the mixed media storyline, the world-class cast and truly enigmatic cinematography - it was surprising, refreshing and captivating to me
and I loved the whole symbolism drawn from an ancient fairy tale. Also the single setting around the apartment block felt almost 'Hitchcock' and I found quite some film-noir angles were used to great effect. The whole mood of the movie kept me engaged and that doesn't happen too often. Also the characters I found, were extremely interesting, even on a macro level. I guess to an audience that has already 'awakened' in some form - dare I say 'spiritual' - this movie is much more than just good fantasy entertainment. I find it highly underrated
so give it an 8 out of 10!
AD
