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| Scene from The Visit |
Oh, to be director, writer, actor M. Night Shyamalan. It's hard to believe that it wasn't long ago that he was hailed as the next Steven Spielberg. With The Sixth Sense, he not only earned a Best Picture and Best Director nomination at the Oscars, but he seemed to promise more of a thrill to cinema. He would surprise you with each twist and turn. Sadly, the twist is that the twist ended up becoming his punchline; his inevitable downfall into the long parodied landscape of Razzies ridicule. With his latest The Visit getting good-ish reviews, some consider it a return to form. Who knows if that will ever happen. For now, I just want to take some time to put in my two cents by ranking his twist-filled movies from The Sixth Sense to After Earth. I assure you, there's more than you'd think in his career.
1. Signs (2002)
I might as well start off controversially with that one film about hydrophobic aliens and crop circles. Here's the thing: while I will admit that he has made a few good movies, I don't really find his darker, more serious fare to be quite as entertaining as his "thriller" moniker gave him credit for. With this film, he hit the best possible intersection between his craft and entertainment value with a story that may be light on logic, but is inevitably entertaining. It was the last of the moments where we took him seriously, and for good cause. He was already showing signs of wear and tear. Yet at least he knew to be entertaining about it still.
2. The Sixth Sense (1999)
The film that launched his career as the next big phenomenon. With good cause, too. Along with great performances by Haley Joel Osment and Bruce Willis, the director suggested that he was capable of making a complex story that was still entertaining. It also helps that it's one of the few times that his directorial skills shone brightly with techniques that enhance the story. Yes, the ending may be ruined thanks to the nature of pop culture, but it still holds up as an entertaining slow burn that more than warranted the belief that Shyamalan would be around for awhile. Sadly, some consider that he has outstayed his welcome.
3. Unbreakable (2000)
It was that time before superhero culture took off in full force. With Unbreakable, Shyamalan created one of his richest universes with characters that were well defined. There was plenty of comic book lore thrown in for good measure with the familiar tropes planted throughout. It's an entertaining film and one that many consider to be his best. Even he does since every few years, he considers making a sequel to the film. While that thought doesn't hold the weight that it once did, it definitely would be the most complimenting of his work to even conceive that possibility.
4. The Village (2004)
Between Signs, The Village, and The Lady in the Water, you can perfectly see the decline of Shyamalan the writer. Where Signs was a film that worked on pulpy fun and supernatural elements, The Village was a film that tested audiences once again to figure out what the twist was. The film itself is competent and has enjoyable moments, but to know Shyamalan's style is to inevitably overthink this one and leave yourself disappointed. Thankfully, it still works well enough as an innocent little thriller. It's just that it was the fourth straight film of Shyamalan using twists, and the audience was starting to give up on him and the idea that he was the next Spielberg.
5. The Happening (2008)
The sooner that you accept this as a comedy, the sooner you can enjoy this film. While Shyamalan ended up coming out to say that it was a literal b-movie, this is perfect embodiment of what his career became. When the villain is killer trees and Mark Wahlberg is an unconvincing scientist, what really is there to root for in this film? It's ridiculous set-up after ridiculous line reading. It's also the stuff of legend, since the film ranks among the guilty pleasure class where it may be awful, but it's great because of that. The only tragedy here is that it's from the director you once respected for deep and complicated drama in The Sixth Sense.
6. The Last Airbender (2010)
This was it. Having failed to capture the magic of his style with The Happening, Shyamalan turned to his first unoriginal property with an adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon series. To say the least, it wasn't the best. Beyond the behind the scenes arguments, the final film featured probably his weakest cast to that point, finding actors who could perform stunt choreography more than emote. With Asif Mandvi as one of the prime villains of the story, it's a ridiculous fare that will likely leave fans of the cartoons pissed. In fact, just go watch those and pray that Shyamalan never gets his way and gets to make the second movie in the planned franchise.
7. The Lady in the Water (2006)
I will admit this one thing: prior to this point, the films ranged from really good to enjoyably bad. The remainder of this list can be classified as insufferable. I hate The Lady in the Water. It's the point where he not only got caught up in his love of twists, but chose to address the critics who hated him. This is his egotistical love letter to himself and the magic of what he could do. Having sat through four films that were pretty good, this was the moment where the red flags weren't just waving, but were accompanied by strobe lights. Front to back, this is his worst original movie because it's too self-aware of the mythology and excitement that a Shyamalan film should have. By doing so, it sacrifices everything good about it.
8. After Earth (2013)
If Hollywood broadcasted a public event in which they sent M. Night Shyamalan out of the industry while tied to push cart running into a volcano that shot into the air only to be side-swiped by a refusing God as the director wanders the rest of his life a deformed, disgusting being... if it came after this piece of garbage... the world would likely stand and cheer at the absence of someone who could make a film this abysmal. It probably would also restore his reputation as the ultimate showman that we've wanted.
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