It’s been a while since I’ve watched anything by M. Night Shyamalan even as he keeps churning films out. I’ve heard that this one is a cut above the rest and indeed the scenario it describes is exactly the type of moral dilemma I like to read about. Unfortunately this is mediocre on pretty much all counts and is disappointingly small in scope to boot. It’s the sort of thing I’d expect for an episode of the Twilight Zone maybe. The most interesting part of it for me may be that Shyamalan might have been playing off of his reputation as a director famous for his twists somewhat.

A little girl Wen is playing by herself in the woods catching grasshoppers when she is approached by a very large man. He introduces himself as Leonard and appears affable but Wen remains wary. From her comments, Leonard realizes that she has two fathers, as her parents are a gay couple Eric and Andrew. Then Leonard reveals that he is accompanied by three others and they need Wen and her fathers to save the world. This is when Wen realizes that he is probably crazy and runs back to the cabin screaming for help. Eric and Andrew barricade the entrances of the cabin as Leonard and his companions, each wielding makeshift weapons, approach. They soon break in, all the while proclaiming that they have no malicious intentions. During the fighting, Eric is injured and both fathers are subdued and tied up. Leonard explains that all four of them have been seeing visions of an apocalypse that will destroy all of humanity. There are convinced that the only way to avert it is for the family of three to decide to willingly sacrifice one of their own. When they refuse the first time, one of the intruders kneel down on the floor and is killed by the others. Leonard then turns on the television showing news reports of huge tsunamis striking the coastlines. Meanwhile flashbacks reveal details of Eric and Andrew’s relationship and how they adopted Wen as a baby from China.

The twist of this film appears at the right at the beginning. You’d expect aggressive strangers approaching your family as a remote cabin to be crazy serial killers. These ones certainly have the crazy part down yet instead of harming the family, they start offing themselves instead. The audience, and Andrew, are naturally skeptical and expect another twist inside the twist. Is this some elaborate deception? Are the news broadcasts fake and prepared in advance? Shyamalan seemingly wants to keep up this veil of doubt. Andrew dissuades Eric from reasoning with Leonard and his companions. At no point, do they suggest rational tests, such as asking for the remote control of the television so that they can flip through the news channels on their own. The director just doesn’t want this scenario to be treated as some kind of logical puzzle. The intruders are absolutely convinced by the visions they experience that their actions must proceed exactly as they saw. Wen’s family must either believe in or reject those claims as a matter of faith without the opportunity to examine the evidence.

That’s already a major cop out but the film exacerbates these flaws in so many other ways. Take how it presents itself as a horror film yet at the same time wants to be family friendly. The killings take place off screen and there is no gore at all which detracts from the emotional impact. Leonard say that they’re forcibly detaining the family so that they get to know that he and his companions are real people. Great idea, except that Shyamalan doesn’t do that at all. They’re just there one moment and then they’re gone. Nor do the flashbacks work to develop the characters of Eric and Andrew. Their one defining characteristic is that they are a loving gay couple who adopt a daughter together. That’s it. That’s the story. It’s so trite and unsatisfying. Most damning of all is that it wants the family to sacrifice one of their own as a matter of faith but it is terrified of invoking the smallest mention of God. Leonard repeats again and again that they don’t want to do this and it’s not up to them. Which means that God or some other higher power forced this on them. But do any of the characters blame God or condemn the monstrous choice they are forced to make? Nope, because that’s not the subject of the film either.

It’s a neat concept to explore and maybe in the hands of a more thoughtful director, something more substantial could have been made out of it. Instead Shyamalan claimed that the script for this was the fastest he had ever written in his career and seemed proud of the fact. As such, this is low quality dreck that wouldn’t stand up to what prestige television can offer these days. Avoid.