Film Journal 2024: The Watchers

Film Journal 2024: The Watchers
Ishana Night Shyamalan

Where it stumbles a bit in its execution, as an exercise in vision and potential The Watchers proves a worthy effort as a debut.

Part of the challenge for Ishana Night Shyamalan is finding ways to reign in what is a large and complex mythology underlying the story. You can feel this most acutely in the first half of the film when, following a beautifully shot and intensely captured opening sequence, the plot starts to move forward at a rapid fire pace. So fast in fact that it is difficult to keep up with where the story is going, what the story is doing, and how we even got to where we are at certain and sharp narrative turns.

There is a point though where it starts to settle in, and once a half point twist fills in the details with more clarity Shyamalan is able to then begin to explore a bit more of her cinematic vision and exercise some of her strengths as a filmmaker.

It is clear that she is good at thinking big. This is less the high concept approach of her father and more of a modern mythological approach, revelling in the ability to explore the intersection between that ancient story telling device and deep humanistic concern. The ending leaves no doubt that she can give big ideas a real and personal application.

The characters aren’t as fleshed out as I would have liked, even with Fanning giving a decently strong turn as the lead, but they all are given an important place in the story in their own way. The sound work and the visual approach is perhaps even more impressive, both being drawn with a careful and intimate touch.

Definitely left me wanting to see more from this young Director, and excited to see how she grows into her own beyond her father’s shadow. In fact, she effectively drew me into this story enough to go out and buy the book right after I left the theater. I’m really curious to see what her adaptive choices were.