We've all seen the amazing film making ability of Shyamalan, and we've also seen the rapid decline in the quality and the believabilty of the ficticious events that he revolves his films around. We also all agree that most of his films are not primarily horror movies. Clevelend Heep brought up a few very interesting and thought provoking ideas about Night's films.
Signs made you believe the Event. Unbreakable made you believe in the Event. The Village made you believe in the Event. Sixth Sense made you believe. (Lady in the Water made you believe to an extent)
The Happening made no one believe.
So what is the "remedy" so to speak for Shyamalan's movies? That's when I came up with this idea.
I'm going to use Signs as an example for my comparison between a good piece by Shyamalan, and The Happening as a "not-so-strong" piece by him. The event that Shyamalan describes in Signs is so well written, that he can fully explain what is going on, and at the same time, he can tell an even better story about a pastor who lost his faith. The Happening, on the other hand, did not adequately explain the event going on in the film enough to convince the audience. Not only did this take away from the believability of the event, but it also took away from the focus of the film: the story about Elliot and Alma. So what do you do when you can't explain a love story and a supernatural event at the same time? You tell a love story (or whatever) set in an event or time that everyone can understand. So what if Shyamalan took a different direction on his films, and told a story that takes place during an earthquake, or flood, or terrorist attack, or hostage situation or something? He wouldn't need to spend so much time explaining the event, because it's something that everyone can understand or maybe relate to. We haven't really seen something like this from him yet. And it just may be the type of film that he needs to make in order to prove his film making abilities to skeptics who no longer believe in him.
All I'm suggesting is that Syamalan tells his story (whether that be a love story, or a "superhero story," etc.) ouside of science fiction. Outside of a supernatural event.
What do you guys think?