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Monday, July 5, 2010

M. Night Shyamalan (Director Profile)



This is the third entry in my Director Profiles series.

ABOUT M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN

M. Night Shyamalan, or “M-dawg”, is a mystery of a filmmaker. He alone has given us one of the best supernatural thrillers of recent times (The Sixth Sense) and now he has recently given us one of the worst mainstream movies I have seen in a long, long time (The Last Airbender). How did we reach this point? It is now time to go through his films and track the downfall of the once-promising M. Night Shyamalan. I will not discuss Wide Awake, his real first film, because it is a supposedly mediocre comedy starring Rosie O’Donnell, and thus does not fit in to the rest of his oeuvre. Also, I haven’t seen it, and I really don’t care to.

THE FILMS

The Sixth Sense (1999)

I have already written on The Sixth Sense here. Going through the rest of his films it is shocking to me how the same person can make this and The Last Airbender. I truly believe The Sixth Sense is one of the best films of its kind, and it is certainly worth checking out if you haven’t yet.
(Rating: 4/4)

Unbreakable (2000)

An impressive, if unessential movie. It follows the same narrative pattern as The Sixth Sense, making it seem a little repetitive, but I was engaged throughout. This is, I believe, supposed to be Shyamalan’s idea of a comic book movie, but it doesn’t truly explore that territory until the second half. I was never fully satisfied with this movie, but it dares to be different, and it gets points for that. Unbreakable is a testament to how Shyamalan can create a mood of suspense, but also begins to show his weakness as a screenwriter. The SHOCKING TWIST ENDING here also doesn’t quite work, but I bought it well enough. I also haven’t mentioned the grittier style Shyamalan uses here, which is what I wish he stayed with. This is a film with strengths that outweigh the weaknesses overall.
(Rating: 3/4)

Signs (2002)

If it weren’t for the ending, this might have been my favorite Shyamalan film. The tension he creates here is genuine, and the more awkward visual style he begins to use actually compliments the material rather than detracts from it. Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix are pretty terrific, and Shyamalan’s considerable cameo isn’t a complete distraction as it would be in Lady in the Water. However, the final scene doesn’t do it for me, as the forward momentum drags to a halt. Shyamalan avoids quick cutting at all costs, and all suspense is lost at the end, not to mention the aliens’ weakness is completely unbelievable. As a whole, though, I try not to let that spoil the filmmaking that came before it, which provides some of the strongest material he’s delivered.
(Rating: 3.5/4)

The Village (2004)

Ladies and gentlemen, THIS is where the wheels come off the wagon. Of his bad films, though, The Village is the most tolerable, and most of the credit goes to cinematographer Roger Deakins (for my money the best one going) for providing Shyamalan with the best looking film he’s made. Most of the visuals are a wonder to behold. The same cannot be said of the screenplay, which might be Shyamalan’s dumbest. He thinks the way to write 19th century English is to make it as long-winded as possible and fill it with words he learned in 8th grade English class like “prudent”. This is not taking into account the dumb phrases he has his actors recite such as “Those We Don’t Speak Of” and “The Bad Color”. Last but not least, the “creatures” look like something out of another movie, and the SHOCKING TWIST ENDING is cheap and unsatisfying. On paper, a lot of this probably did look promising (hence the truly impressive cast), but in execution it is just a bunch of pretentious, humorless hooey.
(Rating: 2/4)

Lady in the Water (2006)

Shyamalan’s most inexcusable piece of work, and was just recently surpassed by The Last Airbender as his worst. Paul Giamatti is surprisingly unimpressive as Cleveland Heep (now THAT is a name), a man who discovers a narf (no, I did not throw up on my keyboard) named Story who shows up randomly in his pool to find a writer who lives in his apartment complex whose work will better humanity’s future. Who does he cast in this role? Himself, of course! The dumb and unbelievable twists the story itself takes are bad enough, but ego-stroking of this magnitude? You’ve got to be kidding me. There is also a film critic living in the apartment complex who is shown as out-of-touch, and his plan almost gets everybody killed. He is then violently killed by a grass-wolf thing. One must keep in mind that Shyamalan had only made ONE critically disliked film before this, and this is his reaction? This is a disgraceful, obvious piece of work.
(Rating: 1/4)

The Happening (2008)

This is just a dumb movie, and let’s leave it at that. It is not insultingly bad, it is just kind of there. It is certainly a step forward from the dismal Lady in the Water, but this film has a ton of problems, the largest of which is the screenplay. I have posted this video in my The Sixth Sense review, but I think we need to watch it again:



Is there a universe in which an actor could deliver THAT line, in THAT situation? No, I say. In every movie since Signs, Shyamalan has screwed his actors with some of the dumbest dialogue known to man, and The Happening has some of the most unintentionally hilarious moments I’ve seen in a film. Mark Wahlberg is a good actor, he was nominated for an Oscar (rightfully so) for his work in The Departed, but here everyone comes off wooden, and I can blame no one but Shyamalan because nearly every actor here is good. Shyamalan wanted this to come off as a “fun B-movie”, and to be sure Shyamalan does not take himself too seriously for once, but the environmentalist message is a little too obvious for my taste.
(Rating: 2/4)

The Last Airbender (2010)

There’s not a lot to say. Read my review here if you don’t want to scroll down two inches.
(Rating: 1/4)

CAREER GRADE: D+

Before The Last Airbender it would have been a C, but you don’t make a film this awful and inept and get away with it. If my dream husband Martin Scorsese made such a film he would have fallen to a B+. I do truly think Shyamalan has a lot of talent as a filmmaker, but most of his work of late has been ruined in the screenwriting stages. I now offer my career rehabilitation advice to M. Night Shyamalan. Trust me, M-dawg. I’ve got three figures in my checking account.

1) Don’t write your next screenplay. Look at other people’s work and settle on a project, preferably a smaller thriller.

2) Work with your actors. Watch all your films and notice how the acting deteriorates over time. Choose actors that can identify with their characters. I’m sorry, but Mark Wahlberg is not a polite high school science teacher. Make sure your actors can feel comfortable. And for God’s sake pull the camera away, and don’t get too in the audience or actors’ face.

3) Don’t get too in love with yourself. If it isn’t good enough, make it better. Know how to be critical of yourself.

4) Don’t make The Last Airbender 2.

I want to like you, Shyamalan. Your time to redeem yourself is running out.

I should also note that even in Shyamalan’s most dreadful films the constant has been the musical scores by James Newton Howard. He makes even the worst films seem like they are better than they actually are.

Other Director Profiles
Oliver Stone
Quentin Tarantino

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