"Why do people choose the substitute over God himself? Probably the most important reason is that it obviates accountability to God. We can meet idols on our own terms because they are our own creations. They are safe, predictable, and controllable; they are, in Jeremiah's colorful language, the 'scarecrows in a cornfield' (10:5). They are portable and completely under the user's control. They offer nothing like the threat of a God who thunders from Sinai and whose providence in this world so often appears to us to be incomprehensible and dangerous . . . [People] need face only themselves. That is the appeal of idolatry."
- David F. Wells
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has been a hot topic in these here parts. I am of the mind that The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were brilliant movies, Signs was a very good movie, and The Village began a pattern of suckitude that continued and worsened through Lady in the Water and the awful, abysmal, torturous and unintentionally hilarious (and thereby also anger-inducing) The Happening. You can read my review of that last flick here. My parting shot reads thusly: "I want to set fire to this movie and pee on it.")
I know some of my fellow Thinklings disagree on the merits of The Village on, but I know Bird at least agreed that The Happening happened to stink on ice.
Shyamalan's latest movie is a live-action adaptation of some cartoon called "Avatar: The Last Airbender," but because of James Cameron's cinematic juggernaut, they didn't call it Avatar but just The Last Airbender. Currently, RottenTomatoes.com lists The Last Airbender with 8% "freshness." Basically this means, 97% of reviews were negative. Out of 10, Shyamalan's latest offering ranks roughly a 2.8.
What the heck happened?
Two theories:
1. Shyamalan's early brilliance was a sham. He relied on others' input and work, but somehow lost their good graces in later works when success went to his head.
2. Shyamalan's early brilliance was legit, but his success went to his head and his ego began to take over his artistic sensibilities.
I tend to believe the latter, b/c he has done some things in his movies I consider artistically irresponsible, beginning with The Village. And many astute critics noticed the palpable disdain for critics who don't "get" people who really are talented and telling "deep stories" and what-not laden into Lady in the Water. Many saw that as a defense mechanism built into the film, Shyamalan's way of saying, "If you hate this movie, it's because you're stupid and critical and don't get it."
What do you think? How did Shyamalan go from great original works to astoundingly awful adaptations?
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Comments on "The Sham that is Shyamalan?":
2. Bill
- 07/15/2010 10:50 pm CDT
As you know, I liked The Village and LOVED Lady in the Water. But I didn't even try to see The Happening - it looked awful and evidently was.
I saw The Last Airbender - what worked very well in a cartoon had all the life sucked out of it as a live-action movie. Zero character development, confusing and boring plot, etc. I didn't absolutely hate it, and my 12 year old liked it ok, but it made me sad. I was hoping M Night would get back on the horse.
The movie proposes to be the first of three, but my guess is he's not going to get the chance to make the other two.
Regarding the M Night movies I've seen and liked, in preference order:
1. Signs
2. Sixth Sense
3. Unbreakable
4. Lady in the Water
5. The Village
The space between #1 and #5 is not that wide.
4. Quaid
- 07/15/2010 11:09 pm CDT
I've made my feelings clear on this over the past years. Personally, I began disliking Night at Unbreakable and haven't liked anything since.
I loved Sixth Sense and everything else was simply not good for me. If I had to rank them, it would just be a chronological list beginning with Sixth Sense. (Although I agree that Unbreakable was less bad than Signs than The Village, etc.) Also, for the record, I didn't see The Happening or Airbender.
Based on my dislike of his films (excepting Sixth), I believe that Sixth Sense was a flash-in-the-pan, one-hit-wonder type of thing. There's nothing to analyze about how he started off well and trailed off since I don't believe he did well consistently, ever.
But I guess I'm the bizarro-Bill of this convo, and I've learned over time, that I'm the only one in the "Night isn't talented" boat.
Lastly, I'll add what I've said in the past - He's a far better director, I think, than a writer (but that's not saying much, IMHO).
5. Bill
- 07/15/2010 11:23 pm CDT
Is it weird that I wrote "post away, Merrill" in the comments of my earlier post before I saw this one?
There are no coincidences.
6. Milly
- 07/16/2010 7:30 am CDT
Signs was a very good movie
They mastered space travel but can't open a door!
I liked The Village it was odd and yet gave you something that all of us could understand. They wanted to get away, in doing so they created a huge amount of issues.
7. shallowfrozenwater
- 07/16/2010 9:08 am CDT
i realize that i'm virtually unknown in these parts but you've hit on a subject that i particularly like to discuss.
i agree with the rankings that Jared threw up there but i'd also say that Lady in the Water was not a bad flick at all, in fact i quite enjoyed it. the "chasm" as i see it occurs when The Happening came upon us.
as for The Last Airbender i just say that this is a complete departure for Shyamalan. there's no "mystery" to prepare yourself for here, it's merely an adaptation of a story that has already been told. at the same time every review i've seen has said that he stunk it up on this one which is interesting to me because he's planning 2 more on the subject.
this is a subject that i'd like to see more of around here, if you're looking for topics of discussion.
8. Damon
- 07/16/2010 9:40 am CDT
MNS is in danger of being run out of town on a rail.
It has always seemed to me that the Sixth Sense was so jaw-droppingly good/surprising at the end, that he (to his peril) tried to recreate the same formula from there on out. Decent character development/plot development/flash-bang surprise ending. Worked once, you shook your head the second time, and then the third time you see it coming...
Too bad. Hitchcock never had that problem...
10. Quaid
- 07/16/2010 10:49 am CDT
What Jen said.
I went to rotten tomatoes to check out the reviews for Inception and the ad banner on the right displayed the following: "From the Mind of M. Night Shyamalan | Bad Things Happen For a Reason | Devil | September 17"
I thought this was somewhat ironic, given all of his bad press. I checked out the film's IMDB page and it credited Night with the story but not the screenplay or direction.
After I finished rolling my eyes, while wondering if his name pushes people towards or away from films, I thought that this might be an interesting lab for Night's quality as an artist.
All of the movies mentioned in this post feature Night as both a writer and director. This is the first film in over ten years that he has been credited as a writer without directing. If Devil is any good, maybe it means that Night has been missing as a director, while hitting as a writer. If it's horrible, then it's the next bomb on a long list of losers.
Anyone willing to spend money on Devil to see what happens?
11. Joe McBee
- 07/16/2010 12:23 pm CDT
I never bothered to see The Sixth Sense because I knew from the previews what the "twist ending" was. However, maybe I should go back and see it anyway because of how awesome everyone thinks it is.
My first experience with M. Night's movies was with Unbreakable, which I really liked, and I also really liked Lady in Water, but I liked it because Paul Giamatti is a brilliant actor.
I saw Air Bender and was horrified at how terrible it was. I would personally like to chalk it up to a fluke, a nasty blip on the radar screen of an otherwise good career.
M. Night is one of those filmmakers whose movies I will continue to see in the hopes that he's going to turn it around and live up to his potential.
12. Chris van Avery
- 07/16/2010 2:55 pm CDT
Bill said,
The movie proposes to be the first of three, but my guess is he's not going to get the chance to make the other two.
I wouldn't be so sure. Despite a slow start, Airbender has grossed over $100m to date, and it's getting a lot of repeat viewers and good word of mouth.
I saw it with a handful of parents and a gaggle of Cub Scouts and while the movie had some flaws from a grownup perspective, the visuals and effects were good and it was thought by all to be very entertaining.
13. Quaid
- 07/16/2010 3:42 pm CDT
"I wouldn't be so sure. Despite a slow start, Airbender has grossed over $100m to date, and it's getting a lot of repeat viewers and good word of mouth."
If the movie's production budget is $150 million, and it can't break even, (obviously there is time to close the gap, but I don't think they'll make it), I don't see how a studio would finance its sequel.
Also - who is seeing this movie twice and giving it "good word of mouth?" I've only heard the most horrible things about it here and elsewhere. I've heard bad word of mouth. I've not heard anyone say anything good about it until comment #12 and a handful of reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes.
Maybe you're right - who knows? Night could help finance the thing himself. But, as of right now, they haven't even entered pre-production on the follow-up which indicates (to me, at least) that they're waiting to see how the film plays worldwide.
I guess Night can be grateful that he didn't make Jonah Hex.
14. Bill
- 07/16/2010 5:37 pm CDT
I read somewhere (and agree) that kids will like the movie (my 12 year old liked it well enough - didn't love it, but liked it) but that it absolutely fails to connect to adults. My guess is anyone over the age of 15 who went to see it looking for an action thriller or a more serious portrayal of the cartoon was pretty disappointed.
Strangely, though - in the theater where I saw it, people clapped at the end.
I didn't think it was good, but it wasn't painful to watch. About 20 minutes in I got the picture that this was going to be less than I thought so I kind of turned my mind off and just tried to enjoy the action scenes.
The biggest issue I had was there was NO character development on Katura, Sacha, and Ang. Their relationship is the best part of the cartoon series, and it seemed like Katura and Sacha were just extras in the movie.
On a very side note - Shyamalan made a point to pronounce all the names different in the movie than in the cartoon. For instance, "Ang" (long A) became "Ong" (short A). Strange.
I'm betting we won't see #2 on this one. But who knows.
15. Bill
- 07/16/2010 5:44 pm CDT
My first experience with M. Night's movies was with Unbreakable, which I really liked, and I also really liked Lady in Water, but I liked it because Paul Giamatti is a brilliant actor.
Joe - well said! Giamatti's portrayal in that movie was incredible. In the scene where he's talking to his dead children and says "When I think of you, I think of God" - fantastic, touching, amazing.
(I nearly got defrocked here at Thinklings for admitting I liked (no - LOVED) Lady in the Water, but I can't help it - I saw it three times and would see it again).
17. Milly
- 07/17/2010 11:00 am CDT
I think the issue is that we all want to like M. Night Shyamalan's work, we just can't get past all the issues in his movies.
18. nhe
- 07/19/2010 10:04 am CDT
Shyamalan needs to get back to that sequel to "Unbreakable" - he has talked about it a lot, but I haven't heard an update - anyone know?
"Unbreakable" is one of my all-time favorite movies and I loved "The Sixth Sense"........I liked "Signs" and "The Village", but I haven't liked anything since - and I haven't been to the theatre to see an MNS movie since "The Village", simply because the word-of-mouth and Rotten Tomato meter have been so bad on the last 3.
On a side note, can I ask why anyone (especially without kids) would pay good money to see "The Last Airbender" at the theatre?
The reviews are atrocious - and readilly available - am I to believe that some of you actually pay good money at a theatre without checking the reviews first? - I'm sorry - I don't get that.
19. Raindream
- 07/19/2010 12:39 pm CDT
Quaid, I came back here to see if anyone was talking about "Devil." Even though it doesn't look like the type of movie I want to see, it looks as if it could work--mostly b/c Shyamalan inspired the story and others worked it out.
I see that it is supposed to be the first of three horror films, the next one being 12 Strangers or something like that.
20. Bill
- 07/19/2010 1:04 pm CDT
nhe - I usually avoid reviews until after I've seen a movie, because (and those who've been around here awhile already know this) sometimes I really like movies that everyone else hates, and - more often - I really don't like movies that everyone else is raving about.
I'd recommend renting LITW just in case. A number of people have commented here that they liked it. You never know - I thought it was great and saw it three times :-)
21. nhe
- 07/20/2010 7:26 am CDT
I used to understand what you're saying Bill, but now we have "consensus reviews" - showing that 380 out of 400 critics don't like a movie - that's good enough for me, and it helped me avoid LITW at the theater.
I disagree with reviews all the time, so that's not a reason not to see a film a the theater. Hwoever, when 90% of 400 critics say it stinks, I'm going to wait for the video.....I've never been wrong with that approach.
22. Raindream
- 07/20/2010 11:42 am CDT
I don't have the money or really the time to see movies in the theater, so the last time I went to the movie theater it was for Toy Story 3 with the whole family. Before that, we all saw Up.
23. paul
- 07/28/2010 12:25 pm CDT
I have a good friend here in Philadelphia who worked on "The Last Airbender" and had to work next to M. Night a lot. According to him, your second theory is indeed right. "The Sixth Sense" script went through about ten separate re-writes because "Night" (as they call him for short) kept sending it in for input from others. After its success he started consulting others less and less and now walks with such an arrogant swagger, thinking he is one of the most brilliant writers and directors alive today. He's a pain to be around, apparently, and nobody can stand him anymore.
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I don't know what happened, but the Happening was so terrible...I can't even explain. But you did a pretty good job. It really might be the worst movie I have ever seen.