How Good Is M. Night Shyamalan?

[Mitch Henessey]

When it comes to directing and screenwriting, M. Night Shyamalan has easily been one of the most recognizable names in the film industry for the past nine or ten years. What I want to know is, how good is M. Night Shyamalan when it comes to screenwriting and directing?

Shyamalan's movies are always known for having supernatural plots, and twist endings. All of of his films are unique in their own way, and some of them usually have a good or great story behind them. Shyamalan was able to gain recognition with The Sixth Sense(1999), and you could say that this film put him on the map.

While Shyamalan does have some good films under his belt, he also has made some stinkers over the years. The Happening(2008) and Lady In The Water(2006) were not good films. I wasn't too crazy about The Village(2004) either. One main problem with Shymamalan is when it comes to making good films, he's very streaky. He makes some good films, but he has also made some bad ones.

Personally I think Shyamalan is a better director than he is a screenwriter. His films are always well directed, but when it comes to the story, that's where some of his movies usually go south for me. I think Shyamalan is a solid director/screenwriter. I won't say he's good because he's had too many bad movies over the past couple of years, and he was never really able to re capture the magic he had with The Sixth Sense. Shyamalan has The Last Airbender coming up this summer, so there's a chance for him to rebound with this film.

Do you think M.Night Shyamalan is a good director and screenwriter?

What do you think of his films?

 

[Smooth Sexual Chocolate]

I love Signs, one of my favorite movies, and 6th Sense has been played to death, but its still a good movie.

For me, I've been let down by everything he has done since Signs. The Village was a total joke, the Happening was all hype, and Lady in the Water was not my cup of tea. I also have no intention of seeing The Last Airbender.

I still hold out hope that he can produce another epic film, but at this point, it seems his bag of tricks is pretty empty.

 

[Buffalo Dave]

Mitch you forgot to mention Unbreakable in movies of his. Which he says is his personal favorite that he did. I have to say Im not really a fan of his work. Sixth sense would have to be my favorite of his to date. To me all his work now is alright if your into sci-fi type films but he seems to ruin them by his dumb endings to his films ever since The Village. It leaves you with, really thats it, thats what was going on??, So now when I see a movie of his its like ok, heres a weird plot now whats gonna be the stupid outcome at the end. I'll admit that his movies are suspensefull for the most part but the endings now are just way to weak.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Mitch you forgot to mention Unbreakable in movies of his. Which he says is his personal favorite that he did.

I liked Unbreakable. That movie had a good story, and along with Signs, I would say that this movie was one of the last good films he did. As I said before, I did not like The Village. That movie had a very weak and lazy ending, and Lady In The Water wasn't too good either. One main problem with Shyamalan's films are, you go into them expecting sooo much, but they rarely deliver. His movies usually start with an intriguing premise and story, but everything has a tendency to fall apart towards the end.

 

[jmt225]

I've seen six of his films. Two of them were very good (The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable), while the rest range from bad to absolutely terrible. The Happening, for example, is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It sucked beyond words could ever express.

Anyway, I think the guy could be a very good director, but his writing fucks up his movies, without a doubt. I think if you hand him a great script, and inform him not to make any serious changes, then he'll make a great movie. But, he likes to write his movies, and that just has not been working for him. Sure, he wrote two good movies, but he reached his peak. It happens. It's time for him to become a director, and leave the writing alone. Not forever, but give it another five or ten years before you write another script. I honestly believe that'll be the only way for him to ever write another movie that's as good as The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable. Right now he's just writing movies and "twist" just to write them. I don't think there's any real imagination and thought put into it, which of course in turns makes it shit.

So, yeah... Shyamalan, good director, shit writer. Time for him to take the Spielberg route and just direct other people's script. He'll make much better movies that way.

 

[lostsoulforever]

I've only seen The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. I knew the twist in Sixth Sense before I saw it, thought it was really obvious, and didn't enjoy the film.

Unbreakable? Oh dear god. Worst. Twist. Ever.

What put me off Shalalalalman for good was the faux documentary, made around the time The Village was being filmed. So pretentious, and ended up with the documentary maker discovering that Shylalala had 'drowned as a child', so that the guy making movies was either an impostor, or a ghost (or something equally as ridiculous).

I haven't watched any of his movies since, and have found the twists in them to be laughable.

From what I've seen and heard of the Happening, I have to believe that he's just at it with that movie, and it was meant to be a satire. Because if he was taking it seriously, he's deranged. I've no idea what Mark Wahlberg was thinking taking that role.

 

[TwistofRKO]

One main problem with Shyamalan's films are, you go into them expecting sooo much, but they rarely deliver. His movies usually start with an intriguing premise and story, but everything has a tendency to fall apart towards the end.

That's exactly how I felt about Signs. There was a lot to work with, but I thought it was highly disappointing. I know it was well received but I felt it dropped the ball half way through. The aliens, missed opportunities, and the ending were awful, and the only thing I enjoyed was Mel Gibson's performance.

Unbreakable was enjoyable overall, and the Sixth Sense was good as well, and the plots were okay, but I probably enjoyed them more due to, again, the actors.

I find M. Night Shyamalan to be overrated. He's a solid director, and can place his visions on the screen beautifully, but past two movies, his plots are garbage, and is nothing but hype.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

That's exactly how I felt about Signs. There was a lot to work with, but I thought it was highly disappointing. I know it was well received but I felt it dropped the ball half way through. The aliens, missed opportunities, and the ending were awful, and the only thing I enjoyed was Mel Gibson's performance.

Unbreakable was enjoyable overall, and the Sixth Sense was good as well, and the plots were okay, but I probably enjoyed them more due to, again, the actors.

I find M. Night Shyamalan to be overrated. He's a solid director, and can place his visions on the screen beautifully, but past two movies, his plots are garbage, and is nothing but hype.

Signs is probably my favorite M.Night Shyamalan movie, but It did fall flat towards the end. The acting from everyone(including Shyamalan) was superb, but the twist was disappointing. Again, with most of Shyamalan's movies you expect something major because of all the hype that goes into them. Unfortunately, he rarely delivers.

The Happening was terrible. I believe if this movie was done as a comedy, it would've been A LOT better because I just don't know how anyone was suppose to take the plot to that film seriously.

Lady in The Water was okay. The story was unique, but once again, things fell a part towards the end.

 

[Minor League Brian]

Maybe its just me, but I think Avatar will "Make or break" him. Or at least, define him. Mostly because the story's already been laid out, there won't be that twist at the end or whatever unless they completely change the story. I think if he can hit it big with this movie, he can be viewed as a talented director, if not he'll have pretty much made his name off movies (which in my opinion) were all about the big twist. Too confusing most of the time to really get into.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

I can sum up M. Night Shyamalan in four words: great director, horrible writer. Don't get me wrong; Shyamalan did write The Sixth Sense and Signs, and I thought both were damn fine films that were expertly written. However, the screenplay for Unbreakable was mediocre at best, and the screenplays for The Village, Lady In The Water, and The Happening were just flat-out piss-poor.

There's still a chance that Shyamalan has a very bright future ahead of him; however, I only see this future being bright if he's hired by studios to direct screenplays that they've bought or existing works of fiction that they've optioned. If studios continue to finance films of his where he has total creative control (I'm not sure if this is the case, but it sure seems like it), then he has yet to see what rock bottom is really like.