M. Night Shyamalan: Rise and Fall

[spider-neil]

The Sixth Sense is all around a well made film, but... I thought it was pretty obvious the first time I saw it what the "twist" was.

More power to you. 6th Sense was kind of the movie that ushered in the wave of twist ending movies so when I saw 6th Sense I wasn't expecting a twist. I got the twist pretty much literally one scene before the reveal rather than very early into the movie.

The twist for Unbreakable angered me.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

More power to you. 6th Sense was kind of the movie that ushered in the wave of twist ending movies so when I saw 6th Sense I wasn't expecting a twist. I got the twist pretty much literally one scene before the reveal rather than very early into the movie.

The twist for Unbreakable angered me.

See for me... the twist in Unbreakable made sense and it made the pieces fall together in the context of the film itself being a meta deconstruction of super heroes.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Ya'll leave the beautiful angel named Bryce alone.

She did what the bad director told her to do.

 

[Majik1387]

Ya'll leave the beautiful angel named Bryce alone.

She did what the bad director told her to do.

I never got the hate for her.

 

[Fincher]

The Sixth Sense is one my all-time favorites, Unbreakable is very good and in my top 10 superhero films, I liked Signs well enough, and The Village wasn't very good. I haven't seen any beyond that in large part because they don't tend to be too well received.

 

[kvz5]

The Sixth Sense is his ultimate best for me. Stunning film. I like Unbreakable but I don't think it's the masterpiece most are hailing it to be. Signs was good and I think The Village is underrated. I know I saw The Lady in the Water but I can't remember anything about it. The Happening is hilarious thanks to Marky Mark's acting. Haven't seen the rest.

 

[Frankeh]

I think Signs is kinda where his storytelling started getting weak. The movie is still a HELL of a thriller, but it's no surprise people had a field day pointing out the ridiculousness of the "invasion". He should've made the villains anything but aliens.

I think Lady in the Water was when I gave up on him. All I could think in the theater was, "what the *beep* is this crap?"

 

[Thundarr]

I think Signs is kinda where his storytelling started getting weak. The movie is still a HELL of a thriller, but it's no surprise people had a field day pointing out the ridiculousness of the "invasion". He should've made the villains anything but aliens.

I think Lady in the Water was when I gave up on him. All I could think in the theater was, "what the *beep* is this crap?"

I think he should have made the aliens' weaknesses to be anything other than water and wooden doors.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Unbreakable is a masterpiece, Tarantino called it.

 

[spider-neil]

I was loving Unbreakable until the twist and that coloured my view of the most movie for years. On second viewing I enjoyed all of the movie including the end as I was braced for it

I enjoyed some of signs but the latter half of the movie was rubbish. Pretty much avoid the rest of his movies. 6th Sense though, wow. I utterly love that movie. So regardless how rubbish M. Night has become he will always have his masterpiece.

 

[StarLord]

Ya'll leave the beautiful angel named Bryce alone.

She did what the bad director told her to do.

I don't hate her, but her performance in The Village was especially terrible.

Haven't even seen The Lady in the Water so I can't comment on her in that.

 

[chamber-music]

Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were great.

The Happening was awful.
Signs was boring and stupid.
The Lady in the Water and The Village were meh. Neither were memorable.

 

[Mandon Knight]

He spread himself to thinly in the film making process, I appreciate you have too when starting out, but as his scope & access to the industry grew and he had 3 great box office returns, its at that point he should have said, right, am I a writer, a director, a producer or an actor instead of trying to shoe horn himself into doing all 4 major roles within the film making framework.

 

[:eek:]

IGN:s review of The Visit:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/09/09/the-visit-review?utm_source=IGN%20hub%20page&utm_medium=Movies&utm_content=5&utm_campaign=Blogroll

 

[ShadowBoxer]

I liked the Vist trailer until I saw M Night's name attached at the end. That's when I knew the movie was going to be garbage.

Edit

Apparently The Visit is good??????????

 

[Pink Ranger]

I'm one of those who eagerly wants Shyamalan to be good again, and not just a joke, and this movie looks like it could be that project that makes this happen.

 

[redhawk23]

I caught "The Visit" last night a free screening. It such a bizarre film. It was sublime. At the end I could barely believe what I had just watched.

Shyamalan has so many odd ticks as a director and this film takes them to an extreme. It is peak Shamalan. He triples down on everything he's ever been criticized or praised for.

The Visit for the most part isn't even a horror film. Its mostly an oddly sincere family drama that in the last 5 minutes remembers that its supposed to be a horror film. It is a series of non-sequitirs and apparent Checov's Guns that have no payoff. It bounces back and forth between scenes of off kilter schlock and legitimately great performances from its young cast that are near comical due to the degree from which they contrast with the rest of the film.

I don't know if the Visit is a good movie. I'm not sure if it quite all hangs together, but I can only recommend seeing it because it is an experience worth having.

 

[Doctor Jones]

More importantly, is it better than his last string of films in the past ten years? Because if it is, that's saying something. Because as much as I always root for Shyamalan to make a good movie again, I thought this movie looks horrible.

 

[Iron_Stark]

I love the Sixth Sense (I just saw it a few days ago again)
Really enjoyed Signs
Hated the Happening
Saw the first bit of Air Bender and couldn't take it anymore, had to change the channel
Like Air Bender, I saw (I think) most of After Earth, and changed the channel

Still haven't seen Unbreakable, Lady in the Water and the Village.

With the Village, someone ruined the ending for me when it was still playing in theaters and never had any interest in seeing it since, but it is on Netflix and after watching Sixth Sense, I kind of want to see it now.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Watch Unbreakable. You're really robbing yourself of one of his few great films if you haven't yet.

 

[Iron_Stark]

Yeah I know, everyone I know that's seen it keeps telling me to watch it.

 

[Loki882]

Signs is enjoyable until you think about it for more than two seconds and realize how dumb and poorly-written it is.

The Village is decent at the beginning, but then has one of the dumbest twists in film history.

Lady in the Water is maybe his most pretentious film (and that's saying something).

The Happening is also really dumb, with an even dumber twist.

The Last Airbender ugh. As a film on it's own, it's awful and if you're a fan of the show (like me) then it's downright infuriating. He couldn't have missed the point/spirit anymore if he tried.

Devil is ok, but hardly spectacular and it's got it's fair share of dumb stuff as well.

After Earth, I don't even want to speak of that one.

His problem, imo, is his massive ego. He really seems to think that he's some misunderstood genius who no one understands (see Lady in the Water for proof of that on-film), and that his movies being panned is due to people "not getting his vision" and no, well most people finding them to be bad movies. A good artist can accept constructive criticism and make adjustments. M. Night, he basically rejects ANY form of criticism and stubbornly sticks to what he's always done.

 

[The Chris]

More importantly, is it better than his last string of films in the past ten years? Because if it is, that's saying something. Because as much as I always root for Shyamalan to make a good movie again, I thought this movie looks horrible.

I'm in the small group that actually likes lady in the water, but I would say The Visit is definitely better than The Happening, Last Airbender and After Earth, It is a very strange movie though but it is definitely a fun time. I was thinking all night was I supposed to be laugh with it or at it. Maybe a mix of both.

 

[Destructus86]

Wayward Pines was awesome. Did he write it? If so, he should stick to TV.

 

[Majik1387]

He was responsible for half the season at least.