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The Strange Career of M. Night Shyamalan
Posted: Jun 11, 2008 in Movies
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So, M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening" opens this weekend. Aside from sporting maybe the most innocuous and plain lazy title in movie history, we really know very little about the movie, other than it stars Mark Wahlberg and the lovely Zooey Deschanel and involves people killing each other.
I thought we might take a little look back at M.'s career and the movies that made him famous and a bit of a pariah in the movie industry.
THE SIXTH SENSE: M. Night's big breakout, starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment, it coined that famous phrase "I see dead people" and features the first of M. Night's signature twist endings. It's scary, atmospheric, and engaging, a movie you definitely need to watch more than once.
UNBREAKABLE: Again pairing with Willis, this is perhaps M. Night's most underrated picture about a man who is the lone survivor of a train crash and has to figure out why. Wasn't a huge hit, probably because it was marketed as a thriller instead of the slow-moving family drama/comic book movie it really is. Samuel L. Jackson makes a great turn as "Mr. Glass," a gaunt, brittle-boned man who is left bitter at his condition.
SIGNS: This is both M. Night's last good picture to date and his first failure. Mel Gibson is a preacher/farmer who has lost his faith, until he finds crop circles in his corn. Again scary and atmospheric, but with a few gaping plot holes (aliens who have conquered space travel can't grasp the concept of doorknobs, and who have a violent, lethal aversion to water picks a planet that's 70% H2O?). A worthwhile picture, if you can overlook the flaws.
THE VILLAGE: It's a dynamite, scary period drama for about half of the movie, then descends into a putrid mess of a predictable movie. I had the ending pegged before I even bought my ticket, and the film breaks M. Night's trend of misleading by outright lying to the audience and breaking the movie-twist code (hint: check the date on the tombstone in the film's first shot). A good first half that turns mediocre really quickly.
LADY IN THE WATER: The only of M. Night's movies I haven't seen. It stars Paul Giamatti and pulls Bryce Dallas Howard back from "The Village" for a "bedtime story" that I think involves a mermaid. The film was poorly received and bombed at the box office.
I've seen all his movies, and I'm hoping that the Happening can get me back on his fan list. I really liked his first three movies...well four (you didn't mention "Wide Awake"). But I thought the Village was mediocre and Lady in the Water should have never been made.
The Happening looks really good, and intense, I hope it lives up to the trailers. His first R rated film, I believe, and it looks rather dark.
Now if he can only make a good movie about Sasquatch....
I've seen all his movies, and I'm hoping that the Happening can get me back ...
You're very right...I was not even aware of "Wide Awake." A family comedy from M. Night. Interesting.
You're very right...I was not even aware of "Wide Awake." A family comedy from M. ...
Yeah, it's not a bad film, very different from him, I actually saw it on TV before I even knew he directed it. The thing that really cracks me up is that he was a writer for "Stuart Little".
I couldn't agree more. Audiences give M. Night the benefit of the doubt because The Sixth Sense was a fantastic debut for a young filmmaker. I'm also a big fan of Unbreakable, but I'm part of a tiny minority. Signs was vanilla - not disappointing, but not memorable. I have not see The Village, though I can assure you Lady In The Water was every bit as bad as the reviews.
I believe there is an inverse relationship to the quality of the film and the length of screen time M. Night gives himself. The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are both good films; he was essentially an extra. Signs was mediocre; he was a supporting character with little screen time. Lady In The Water was almost laughable; he played a major character who appeared in almost every scene. I believe we can extrapolate the quality of this new film by his role in the cast... let's hope his ego has receded and he plays a very minor role.
I wonder if any other film maker has been given as much slack as this guy? The only film out of his repetoir that I could recommend would be the 6th sense, and even that movie (once you've watched it twice) is not that good.
I just don't think he is as briliant or creepy as people think.
I wonder if any other film maker has been given as much slack as this ...
His movies generate buzz and make money, and that's the most important factor in a filmmaker getting to make more movies.
Here's are the tallies of those films mentioned (excluding Victory's mention of "Wide Awake" which made very little money at the box office), according to boxofficemojo.com:
Lady in the Water $42,285,169
The Village $114,197,520
Signs $227,966,634
Unbreakable $95,011,339
The Sixth Sense $293,506,292
You can't argue with a cash register.
He just aggravates me, because for instance in The Village I really liked the feel of the movie for about the first half, and then it just went downhill fast.
And in Unbreakable the whole movie is building up the fact that Bruce Willis is some type of superhero, but in the end he doesn't really do anything heroic at all,
It's all just so disapointing
In Unbreakable, Bruce Willis saves those two girls from the guy who broke into their house and killed their parents, and he almost drowns in their pool. That was a heroic thing, but it seemed kindof forced, as if M. Night needs to illustrate the dichotomy of helping vs. hurting along with strong vs. weak. I enjoyed the movie, but that element didn't seem to fit. So now what, Bruce Willis is going to don his security guard ponch each night and fight crime? The symbolism of the poncho as a superhero cape is a little too clear for my tastes. Then again, M. Night isn't making a doctoral thesis, he's creating entertainment and making money.
yeah, that was heroic, but it wasn't exactly superheroic. It was weak, Mr Glass was a pretty cool character though.
I love Chew's line about judging Night's movies by how much he's in them.
I've often said that the most enjoyable Woody Allen movies are those in which he's a minor character, or does not appear at all. Or as Ned Flanders put it, "You know, I like his films except for that nervous fellow that's always in them."
I've liked everything Shyamalan has done, although the trajectory has clearly been downward. I, of course, loved the film critic character in "Lady in the Water" who's a total ass.
I've liked all of his films except for "Lady In The Water" like someone said above it should not have been made.
I am really looking forward to "The Happening" will be seeing this tomorrow.