Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Lady in the Water Blu-ray Movie Review

Close, but no cigar.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 18, 2010

It will be the seeds of change.

Lady in the Water is actually something of a noteworthy film in recent Hollywood history, but not for a particularly good reason. It's the film often credited with the confirmation of the beginning of the long and hard fall from the top of the Hollywood scene for Director M. Night Shyamalan, the Eastern Pennsylvania-based director of the legendary Horror/Thriller The Sixth Sense, the film that made the twist ending the en vogue style of the day and would quickly become synonymous with Shyamalan as his trademark modus operandi. Following on his success with the Bruce Willis Chiller, the director released the exemplary but admittedly audience-splitting films Unbreakable and Signs, but something happened along the way to 2006's Lady in the Water: The Village. Panned by critics and confusing Shyamalan's fan base with a picture that wasn't even close to living up to expectations, The Village placed a dark cloud over the director's head, but considering his past successes, it seemed to be only a blip on the radar, a passing shower with clear and sunny skies to follow. Even Steven Spielberg had The Lost World, but rather than hit back with a Saving Private Ryan as Spielberg did a year following his dinosaur misfire, Shyamalan would follow up The Village with Lady in the Water and, soon thereafter, The Happening, two films that only seemed to cement the demise of a director that at one point was seen as the next Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock rolled into one.

Narf!

Apparently, there are beings that hail from "The Blue World" who once upon a time worked with man in harmony, but man's selfishness broke the bond and led to a world stricken with problems. Those beings from "The Blue World" -- known as "Narfs" -- secluded themselves from man's world but are once again reaching out in an effort to coexist with man and bring forth an era of great change. In a small Philadelphia apartment complex known as "The Cove," handyman Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti, Shoot 'Em Up) discovers in the community swimming pool a young woman whom he comes to learn is a "Narf." Her name is Story (Bryce Dallas Howard, Terminator Salvation), and she's arrived from "The Blue World" with the task of inspiring the author of a book whose writings will bring widespread positive change to the United States and, indeed, the world. Heep goes about questioning the locals in an effort to discover the identity of the mystery author, and in doing so he begins to discover that many of the residents have not moved into The Cove by chance but were assembled for a greater good and as part of Story's perilous but fantastical journey to ensure the future of humanity.

Somewhere beneath Lady in the Water is a stronger story and an even stronger film, but M. Night Shyamalan has failed to bring it forth, to capitalize on the notions of fate and "a place for everything and everything in its place" that defined his exceptional film Signs. Lady in the Water might best be summarized as a potentially palatable dish and prepared by a master chef but in the absence of a few small but key ingredients. The end result looks just right but tastes a bit off, and indeed, Lady just never comes together the way it should, even if everything about it on the surface and at-a-glance says otherwise. No doubt ideas such as fate, power, purpose, reason, and faith play key roles in the film and are all scrumptious ingredients that always prove dependably nutritious and necessary in many purposeful films that strive for meaning and relevancy, to make calm from chaos, and to place on everything an order and a reason that, even if the effects may not be realized for days, months, or even years later, solidifies a belief system and a self-assuredness that makes life and all the hardships around it worth living with the knowledge of a greater good at work. Lady in the Water is filled with such notions both superficially and deeper within its structure, but Shyamalan never makes the story feel as big as it should, instead cramping it with a slightly off-kilter tone, a lack of urgency, a confused structure, and poor pacing that together fail to draw the viewer in and care about the characters and their many and varied purposes and places in life beyond a cursory concern for and curiousness about them that fades away as soon as the credits roll.

Lady in the Water is certainly a film that was headed in the right direction from a thematic perspective, and while it unfortunately fails to live up to its obvious potential, the film does reap the benefits of Shyamalan's keen sense for filmmaking, the director painting another visually captivating picture that thrives on the low-key but nevertheless often mesmerizing approach that's defined most of his previous work. Unfortunately, Lady in the Water isn't solidified by an accompanying top-tier story, that potent combination one of the primary reasons behind the successes of several of his older pictures. Still, and despite the absence of a more coherent, settled, and precisely-purposeful narrative, his work here is smooth, stable, and even slightly haunting, the film beautifully crafted from a purely visual perspective that often proves more enchanting than the filmed material itself. Additionally, Lady in the Water assembles an oddball yet mostly effective cast, with Paul Giamatti making for a brilliant everyman hero, a fixer-upper with several gifts, a damaging past, and a trusting and open personality that's often veiled behind a stutter but not hidden in the depths of a heart that he openly wears on his sleeve. M. Night Shyamalan also gives himself a more active and purposeful role in front of the camera; he proved quite the actor in a small yet poignant and crucial part in Signs, and he delivers a lesser but nevertheless strong performance here, too, even if there seems to be a bit of narcissism considering his character's place and purpose in the film. The rest of the cast gels well enough and does the best it can with material that's on the cusp of greatness but falls short of perfection.

Lady in the Water Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lady in the Water washes up on Blu-ray with a middling 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer that's dull and drab but seemingly reflective of Shyamalan's intended tone. "Flat" and "listless" are the words of the day, the transfer lacking anything even resembling a sparkle, and the lifeless feel remains with the transfer from start to finish. Colors are hardly vibrant; even brighter shades of red, yellow, and green seen here and there offer no more than a cursory break from the drab tone that's dominant in the film. The image is sharper than its standard-definition counterpart, but fine detailing is still minimalist in presentation. Faces lack texture, backgrounds are flat, and every object in the film delivers but token detailing that's admittedly improved upon in 1080p but is hardly of note beyond. The image does retain a bit of grain, and dirt and debris anomalies are kept to a minimum. A hint of softness permeates a few scenes; blacks are fledgling but never overtly problematic; and flesh tones remain fairly stable, from the film's darker-skinned individuals to Story's deliberately ghastly pale appearance. Lady in the Water doesn't look all that great on Blu-ray, but it's not a particularly handsome film to begin with, either.

Lady in the Water Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lady in the Water splashes onto Blu-ray with only a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack; Warner Brothers has not included a lossless or uncompressed option for this high definition release. This is a routine, front-heavy, dullard of a track that offers practically no immersion into the film from a sonic perspective while delivering a slightly harsh listen that gives little more than a perfunctory effort. The track is absent the superior clarity and precision of lossless presentations; there's little sense of space and the track lacks in pinpoint atmospherics. The bulk of the track is handled up front with only cursory back-channel support; a sprinkler system sprays water and features one of the track's most prominent rear channel effects, but doesn't deliver much more than a base sonic signature that's identifiable as a sprinkler but doesn't fool the aural senses into believing that the sprinkler is indeed at work in a live environment. On the plus side, musical reproduction is generally smooth but again lacking in clarity, while dialogue reproduction is crisp and sharp with no discernible hiccups of note. Lady in the Water's is a fairly generic soundtrack, one that easily gets the job done but doesn't strive for -- nor does it accomplish -- anything more than a bland but passable listen.

Lady in the Water Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Lady in the Water brings with it a few extras of note to this Blu-ray release. 'Lady in the Water:' A Bedtime Story (480p, 5:00) features Director M. Night Shyamalan sharing some insights into the real-life bedtime story he wrote and that inspired the film. Throughout the short piece, he reads selections from it, accompanied by illustrations courtesy of Crash McCreery. Reflections of 'Lady in the Water' (480p, 34:45) makes up the bulk of the supplements; it's a six-part making-of documentary that takes viewers from the origins of the story and the subsequent motion picture all the way to post-production. Each segment -- Intro and Script (3:36), The Characters (11:43), The Look (4:54), The Location (3:12), The Creatures (3:41), and Post and Closing (7:37) -- offers plenty of raw behind-the-scenes footage and cast and crew interview snippets that go fairly in-depth into all things Lady in the Water, and while this makes for a good all-around piece, fans still might find themselves wanting for a full-length commentary track, which Shyamalan has yet to provide for any of his films. Next up is a collection of audition tapes (480p, 2:10) for various parts in the film, followed up by a gag reel (480p, 3:16) and several deleted scenes (480p, 5:01). Also included is the film's teaser (480p, 1:45) and theatrical (480p, 1:33) trailers.

Lady in the Water Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Imagine if Christopher Nolan (Memento, The Dark Knight) or Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill) suddenly released a string of critically-panned and audience-loathed films. Unfortunately, that's what's happened to Lady in the Water Director M. Night Shyamalan, the one-time demigod-like filmmaker that seemed as sure a thing as death and taxes. Now just a decade-plus removed from his astronomical rise to success with The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan is giving it one more go in an effort to salvage the respect of his once-gargantuan fan base with the already-controversial The Last Airbender. There's no denying Shyamalan's raw talent behind the camera, masterful storytelling ability, and visionary filmmaking techniques. Here's hoping that Airbender returns him to prominence; Hollywood's just not the same without Shyamalan at the top of his game. As for Lady in the Water, it's a bleak picture with plenty of ideas and the potential to make for moving, purposeful, and maybe even life-changing cinema, but the picture is so bland and the deeper thematic complexities only marginally realized so as to leave viewers with a feeling of detachment and, ultimately, an emptiness when the film concludes, realizing that it represents but the periphery of greatness and an example of painfully unrealized potential. Lady in the Water still earns an above-average mark for effort, its strong casting, quality score from James Newton Howard (I Am Legend), and Shyamalan's always brilliant craftsmanship, but few films are as disappointing as this when such a magnificently greater good seems so close to realization but ultimately so far away and, unfortunately, never likely to be brought to fruition. Warner Brothers' Blu-ray release of Lady in the Water is rather stale, the 1080p picture quality bland yet reflective of the source and the lossy Dolby Digital track serviceable at best. A few good standard-definition extras round out what is a passable but ultimately underwhelming Blu-ray package.