This film was pretty terrible.
It had a bit of an experimental flavour, with the satirical and subsequently self-reflexive analysis of conventional movie plot mechanisms, and it played around a bit with narrative structures. However, this kind of thing only works if done correctly, and Shyamalan was overambitious. He's no Charlie Kaufman or Sam Shepard and it showed. While the direction was overall pretty good, though not terribly remarkable, he overmatched himself with the screenplay and the result is dry and boring. I got the sense that he was trying to outsmart the audience by playing on their anticipation of his patented plot twists, but if that was indeed his intention he missed the mark. What you get is a series of rather lame and lackluster revelations masquerading as cleverly subversive metatheatrical plot devices and they all basically suck.
Bob Balaban and Jeffrey Wright, two amazing actors, were pretty much wasted. The story translation via Asian proxies was also a lame device, and even the effects were subpar. Not only that, but this "myth" was weak. Shyamalan may have impressed his kids with the incredibly lame "narfs" and "scrunts" but not only do those names suck, he should have just borrowed an obscure story from ancient mythology or something because this crap he pumped out was pretty fucking silly.
I did kind of like the ending scene, and there were a few noteworthy scenes which I've pretty much forgotten, but definitely don't go out of your way to see it. As far as the director casting himself in a major part, he wasn't terrible, but he probably should scale back a little and turn over the acting and writing duties to people who are better suited. Just my opinion.
