Shyamalabob

Get ready for another barrage of opinion!

The general topic is still movies, but this time I'm focusing on one of today's more prominent figures in film: M. Night Shyamalan.

Who the hell is that?
He's a real wizard who creates special effects for movies that can't afford CGI.

Who is he really?
Just kidding... he's a writer/director behind such movies as The Sixth Sense and Signs.
(See, that was a twist. The "wizard" bit was a lie. Isn't that awesome?)

Why is this relevant?
Well, his newest movie The Happening is opening in theatres this week and it looks like it could be this week's topper at the box office, despite the fact that The Incredible Hulk is also debuting. Plus, some of my friends have admitted their interest in it and even I must say I'm interested to see how it turns out. I have several reservations about it, however, because I'm not much of a fan of Shyamalan.

Don't you want to know why?

All right, I'll tell you.

I'm one of those folks who finds Shyamalan to be increasingly gimmicky/self-serving with each new movie he makes. It's abundantly evident to me that he thinks up a crazy plot twist first and creates the rest of the story later with the increasingly singular purpose of maximizing the shock of the twist. This results in movies where the bulk of the story is often rendered pointless once the twist is revealed and everything the movie previously taught you to believe or expect is turned on its head. When every bit of the movie pre-twist is manipulated for that one payoff it's as if the point of all of his movies is for you to watch 2 hours of film for that momentary feeling of "oh, you tricked me." Guffaw.

That's not to say that he's talentless. I'm just of the opinion that he too often wastes whatever talent he has on his obsession with twists and tricks. And it's getting old.

Here's a timeline with ratings from IMDB:

1999 - Sixth Sense (8.2)
2000 - Unbreakable (7.2)
2002 - Signs (6.9)
2004 - The Village (6.6)
2006 - Lady in the Water (6.0)

Notice a pattern? Either he's running out of good ideas or this one trick pony is losing his novelty. Or both.

I saw a TV commercial last night for The Happening. It looked intriguing, which is something his movies have always been able to achieve. However, a few things about this commercial bothered me. First, they pitched it as "M. Night Shyamalan's first rated 'R' movie", as if the "R" rating alone means it's going to be good. Secondly, and more importantly, it looks like every other Shyamalan movie with a singular twisty focus.

It appears from the preview that the "happening" involves the general population mysteriously dying/going crazy/disappearing and that the audience will all be watching the movie to find out exactly what is going on and why. Shyamalan's not just going to give us an answer to those questions. He's going to give us the most off-the-wall shocking answer imaginable and then explain it with his usual brand of logic that contains enough holes to fill Sonny Corleone. I don't know, maybe it'll be good.

Let me just say that right now I'm really looking forward to reading about this movie.