I guess we can all agree that M. Night Shyamalan is not doing well on his job lately. From his first 4 blockbusters, the last one (The Village) was the least good. From then, Lady In The Water to The Last Airbender it kinda went down with every movie. We, as fans, might still like the movies yet we can all agree that they are not his best.
Everyone I know is sick of M. Night and his latest movies. They can't believe that I am still a fan of him, that I haven't abandonned him as a fan, but I just can't. There were three movies that really got me motivated to become a screen writer and M. Night Shyamalan made all three of them. He is my role model.
So, what happened to mister Shyamalan?
I watched The Last Airbender in cinema yesterday and I have to say that he has not lost his director skills. They movie looks beautifull. Great CGI, the bending looks awesome and the surroundings of the world the story is set in looks great.
Shyamalan is still a visual genious.
The thing that comes in mind to me is the writing. I believe that the reason why his latest movies are bad is because of the screenplay he wrote. Let's take a look at his first 4 movies (pre-Sixth Sense excluded); all movies have a simular way of story telling and it is slow. Step by step we get to know the characters, the problems, the solutions and everyting. The pacing in the movies really made them one of a kind.
The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village are masterpieces in my opinion.
After The Village, Shyamalan tried something new. He tried to speed up the story telling, which I think he shouldn't. Lady In The Water was acceptable. The Happening would have been better if there was just a little more time for the characters to show emotion and The Last Airbender was just aweful due to the speed.
If a great director has a poor script, he can try what ever he wants, but he will never make a masterpiece out of it. Now I begin to wander about the two upcoming Shyamalan movies.
'Devil', is it going to be good again? Will this show that the mind of M. Night is still producing great stories? If so, will it have a slow or fast pacing? If it has a fast pacing, but the movie is still good then it proves my theory for a big part I guess.
'Untitled M. Night Shyamalan Project', will this have the same slow pacing as his first 4? Will this finally be his return from a bad era? If it has slow pacing and it'll be a masterpiece again, it will prove my theory.
I honestly can't wait for both movies to be released. I want to see the return of the mastermind.
What do you guys think of my theory? I would like a discussion about it.
