The Watchers-A Promising Debut from Ishana Night Shamylon with a Lackluster Screenplay

The Watchers certainly shows Ishana Night Shyamalan to be a promising filmmaker. Following in her father's footsteps, Ishana smartly uses close-ups to build tension and provide a feeling of claustrophobia. Much like her father, Ishana uses slow tracking shots and Arial shots to provide unease and build up intrigue.

There's also a fairly compelling story throughout parts of the film. During the bits of the movie where the characters converse in the single shelter, or the "Coop," as it's called, there's a pretty interesting story of a group of strangers forced into a community after they all become singularly trapped in a single location. It's this bit of the film where it's most compelling. There's also some fascinating world-building throughout, with the film using bits of folklore to build up a unique mythology that I found pretty intriguing. 

However, as compelling as much of the film can be, there are a lot of quirks in the Screenplay that hold it back. The film spends way too much time telling rather than showing, with many exposition-heavy scenes of characters explaining rules, some of which don't go anywhere. The dialogue, in general, is quite clunky, with characters talking in a way that never quite feels natural. The film attempts to tackle themes of grief and trauma through scenes of the main character struggling to deal with the death of her mother, but it largely falls flat, mainly due to how overly clunky and unsubtle the dialogue is. In the tradition of her father, Ishana Night Shyamalan's script tacks on a final twist in the third act, and much like her father's lesser work, it mostly comes out of nowhere and does nothing more than spell out the film's themes of trauma and the entrapment that comes from it way too explicitly and unsubtly.

There's a pretty compelling story of a group of traumatized individuals who form a bond after being forced together. And the worldbuilding strung about the film is pretty interesting. However, for much of the film, Ishana Night shows herself to be a much more talented filmmaker than a writer. Ishana Night's script fills itself with clunky exposition-heavy dialogue, unsubtle themes, set-ups that don't go anywhere, and random bits of deus ex machinas and twists that mostly come from nowhere. I do hope to see Ishana Night continue working as a filmmaker, as she does show herself to be talented behind the camera. But it's clear with The Watchers that she needs a far better script to let her directing talent shine.

Now Showing in Theaters in the U.S