Image via Buena Vista Pictures
how the hell do you do it M.Night Shyamalan manage to do it? At the same time, how the hell does M. Night Shyamalan manage not to? In fact, how can such a high-profile director produce a masterpiece like The sixth Senseand then they somehow manage to get the action live avatar the last airbender on that same resume? It is perhaps the filmmaker’s striking duality that continues to draw crowds year after year.
It’s at the point where making a movie that has audiences on the fence is an intriguing development for Shyamalan, whose credit is perhaps further tarnished when you realize such a movie was backed by considerable acting talent. Whatever the case, the debate surrounding one of Shyamalan’s most divisive films reigns as strongly today as it did nearly two decades ago.
Started by a critical review by a user on r/movies, the masses were quickly plunged into a debate around The village, a thriller film written and directed by Shyamalan and starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody and Sigourney Weaver. The film follows the townspeople of the title, who live in fear of the creatures lurking in the neighboring forest.
Some reviewers opined that most of the film’s detraction came from Shyamalan’s reputation for plot twists; some suggested that anticipating a twist takes one out of the rest of the film, while others believed that the plot twist was simply not good.
The first claim was backed up by one respondent who claimed to enjoy the movie much more on their second viewing, largely due to the different way they engaged with the aforementioned twist.
We will see M. Night Shyamalan again next year when his next movie call the booth opens in February, and while we expect it to fall into the category of Shyamalan movies that Unbreakable Y The sixth Sense currently occupy, even breaking, as The village did, it would be an acceptable victory for a filmmaker coming from the back of Ancient.
