Dakota Fanning stars as an American girl working in a pet shop in Ireland whose car breaks down in the woods while delivering a bird. She winds up bumping into a few other lost travelers who we learn are being watched by… uh… “The Watchers”. These Watchers are unseen entities who live in the woods and keep people hostage in “The Coop”, which looks like a high school theater stage. During the day, Dakota and the others are free to roam around the woods, but at night, they have to be centerstage for the Watchers’ entertainment. Eventually, Dakota and company stage a daring escape.
The Watchers was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, Ishana, who isn’t very subtle. She gives us a lot of symbolic closeups of lizards in glass aquariums and birds in cages early on to foreshadow our heroine’s plight. Also, the only DVD that’s in “The Coop” is a Big Brother-style reality TV show, which further hammers home the film’s themes.
Like her old man, Shyamalan has a knack for creating an intriguing set-up. Sadly, like her dear old dad, she doesn’t have much follow-through. Even though the set-up is kind of original, it quickly descends into a bunch of tired cliches, including the tried-and-true scene where someone comes knocking at the door and begs the characters to let them in, causing someone to shout, “It could be one of them! Ask it something only your husband would know!”
It doesn’t help that the Watchers themselves are kinda weak looking (they resemble the offspring of Groot and Slender Man) or that much of the lore comes courtesy of huge exposition dumps. It might’ve worked better had Shyamalan parceled out the backstory slowly or better yet, left things up for the audience to decide. Like her old man, she also fumbles the ball when trying to deliver a big “twist” at the end. I will say she does orchestrate a solid jump scare about halfway through, so I will give her that.
Fanning keeps the movie from completely falling apart around her. She definitely has leading lady chops. It’s just a shame the script lets her down. Olwen Fouere, who played the Sally Hardesty in the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie, is pretty good too as the old lady who runs the Coop and knows all about the Watchers.
While it’s marginally better than much of the senior Shyamalan’s films, ultimately, these Watchers are only worth watching once.
No comments:
Post a Comment