Results tagged “M. Night Shyamalan”

We understand why a studio would give M. Night Shyamalan the benefit of a doubt, with even the much-maligned The Village grossing more than $100 million in the U.S.

We understand that audiences might be willing to take a chance on the writer-director who burst onto the scene with The Sixth Sense and made an unexpectedly thoughtful and human superhero movie with Unbreakable.

And we understand that Syamalan believes that his shit stinks not, and that he further thinks those bowel movements represent a new form of artistic expression.

But why oh why did I assent to River Cities’ Reader film critic Mike Schulz’s inebriated suggestion that we record a commentary track for Lady in the Water?

It is, of course, bad form to kick a man when he’s down, but here goes.

First it was merely M. Night Shyamalan’s boastfulness that grated, such as when he told Time:

“Except for Pixar [qualifier], I have made the four [qualifier] most successful original [qualifier] movies in a row [qualifier] of all time.”

Some have have tried to dispute this claim, but I believe Shyamalan has crafted enough conditions that his statement is factually correct. (We must ignore George Lucas, but I’m guessing that M. Night would disqualify the final three Star Wars movies because they’re sequels — hence, not “original” in his sense of the word.)

This is the Michael Bay Defense: My movies might suck, but they make a lot of money!

In a review full of great lines, here is perhaps the best from Jim Emerson’s pan of the Great and Powerful and Self-Absorbed M. Night’s The Lady in the Water:

“They live in water and are desperate to communicate warnings to Man, but Man has forgotten how to listen. They are sort of like amphibious Al Gores.”

Bashing The Village, of course, is easy. But out of M. Night Shyamalan’s plodding, over-deliberate bore -- neither intellectually stimulating nor marginally entertaining -- could have been salvaged a good, serious, potentially wrenching exploration of the concept of the social contract.