When this ended, I felt like something was missing. I didn't feel a sense of closure, or a sense of relief at things working out. This made me reevaluate the rest of the movie.
First, the structuring is sort of a pain. It isn't difficult to follow, but it feels like a crutch to stretch the running time out, when something like this actually seems like it would flow better if it didn't try to do something clever that didn't add anything.
I sort of enjoyed the first half of the story. The mass suicides, figuring out what was causing it, being teased with little bits of information like the drawings... all of that was really pretty good.
Once we lose most of the characters, the story gradually falls apart into something that's harder to care about. Gone is the interpersonal conflict in the face of adversity. Instead, it's Sandra Bullock trying to protect kids against... ghosts? Ethereal aliens? Normally I would be fine with not having an explanation of what they're dealing with, but there's a lack of establishing rules. We know that seeing them is a problem. But they don't seem to physically interact with people, but they do stir up wind. And somehow, they are solid enough to trigger a car's collision warning. Not to mention that these entities seem to be able to get inside minds and create auditory hallucinations that are especially personal. What is this?
To be fair, this is probably something that's just at the right level for some people. No real gore, long sequences of slow tension... it's a horror movie for people who are turned off by most horror movies.
I don't think it will persevere very well, because even if the ending had done better, I wouldn't have felt like it had anything to offer on a second viewing.
I sort of enjoyed the first half of the story. The mass suicides, figuring out what was causing it, being teased with little bits of information like the drawings... all of that was really pretty good.
Once we lose most of the characters, the story gradually falls apart into something that's harder to care about. Gone is the interpersonal conflict in the face of adversity. Instead, it's Sandra Bullock trying to protect kids against... ghosts? Ethereal aliens? Normally I would be fine with not having an explanation of what they're dealing with, but there's a lack of establishing rules. We know that seeing them is a problem. But they don't seem to physically interact with people, but they do stir up wind. And somehow, they are solid enough to trigger a car's collision warning. Not to mention that these entities seem to be able to get inside minds and create auditory hallucinations that are especially personal. What is this?
To be fair, this is probably something that's just at the right level for some people. No real gore, long sequences of slow tension... it's a horror movie for people who are turned off by most horror movies.
I don't think it will persevere very well, because even if the ending had done better, I wouldn't have felt like it had anything to offer on a second viewing.