This leads to bizarre logic gaps in the characters' thought processes, not least of which is their decision to spend much of the movie not sealing themselves in a room, but roaming the countryside. I'm also thinking in particular of a scene in which a soldier addresses a crowd by, essentially, saying "the phenomenon seems to be attacking large groups of people, so let's stick as close together as possible." It takes Wahlberg another ten minutes, in what plays like a revelatory moment, to realize that's not a good idea. And every rule Shyamalan creates, he breaks: the phenomenon is attacking large groups of people, but then we see instances of people killing themselves when they're all alone.

You also get the impression that Shyamalan himself realized that shots of the wind blowing wasn't scary enough to sustain a whole film, so he loads up the movie with unnecessary "gotcha!" moments and downright pointless plot developments. Late in the story, Wahlberg, Deschanel, and Sanchez come across a large old house owned by an old woman who lets them spend the night. She turns out to be crazy and evil, and the whole fifteen minute sequence feels like it was lifted out of a completely unrelated, and very run-of-the-mill, horror movie. It has no business being in the movie and serves only to pad the already brief 90-minute running time.

The script is just sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. Some scenes - including the opening Central Park scene and a frantic car ride with Leguizamo's character - approach effectiveness. And there are a few great images, like a shot of dozens of construction workers walking calmly off the top of a building and plunging to their deaths. The whole conceit of people killing themselves is a neat concept, and one that seems like it could be milked for scares. But it's not.

Perhaps that's because Shyamalan is too pre-occupied with coming up with gruesome ways for people to commit suicide. The TV ads are all touting that this is his first R-rated film, but anyone actually excited by that claim is going to feel ripped off. There's a tiny, tiny bit of gore in this film, mostly seen in blurry, faraway shots. The rating is a joke.

Wahlberg is going to get a lot of crap for his performance; one early review online said it was mind-bogglingly bad, and reactions at the screening I went to seemed to agree. I think it's just a case of playing an undeveloped character and not getting any help from the director. The science teacher is a whiny, earnest, and simple-minded guy, and Wahlberg plays him straight, spending the whole movie looking hurt and befuddled. It's not a good performance, but I think it's simply a byproduct of the material.

Oh, and did I mention it's a message movie? We have to take better care of our environment, apparently.