Lady in the Water

[Dolemite]

When I was watching the teaser trailer in the theatre I was curious, then when M.Night's name came up, I, and several other people in the room began to scoff and groan. I'm skeptical, but I'll probably still see it.

Actually, the exact opposite happened in the threater where I saw the trailer. When Shyamalan's name popped up on the screen the audience let out a collective "OOOOHHHH…" like the movie had been made by Jesus or something. Weird. I guess the man hasn't worn out his welcome with that crowd.

BTW, I think the guy makes solid movies (well, I never saw The Village, but his other flicks were decent enough), but I'd like him to movie beyond the lame "have to include a HUGE twist in every movie" crap. It's really ruining him.

[Regus]

Out of all his movies that I've seen, there seems to be a pattern, he makes one good movie, and follows it with a bad one. Starting with the Sixth Sense, if this pattern continues then this movie should be good.

[Dolemite]

Out of all his movies that I've seen, there seems to be a pattern, he makes one good movie, and follows it with a bad one. Starting with the Sixth Sense, if this pattern continues then this movie should be good.

Nah, I don't agree. I thought both Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were pretty good.

However, that I've only seen Sixth Sense once, as once you learn the twist the idea of repeat viewings doesn't really appeal much. Even now I have no desire to ever really go out of my way to see it again, but I wouldn't mind watching Unbreakable again sometime.

[arjue]

This movie sounds like it has no style and startles people with loud noises and quick pop-ins by horrible looking creatures or devious people. M. Night builds suspense through acting and direction and he's good at it. I don't see how you can compare the two, given that the description of this movie makes it sound like a slasher.

Wolf Creek is possibly the most beautiful horror movie I've ever seen. It has 1 startle in it, less than most (if not all) of M.Night's movies. Its affectiveness is in its realism, unpredictability, and incredible writing. It's no mere hollywood slasher, this movie feels like you are watching your friends get killed by a serial killer. Its so well made that some people aren't enjoying this movie because its too scary (not gory or horrible, but genuinely pants-shittingly scary). M.Night movies use cheap silence and kids whispering to create "suspense" and throws some ridiculous curve ball ending that would be surprising if we didn't see some kind of retarded twist coming.

[sethsez]

Signs didn't have a twist. It had a climax, it had a moment of realization, but it didn't have a twist. In The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and The Village, the twist put the rest of the movie in a totally new perspective, but Signs didn't really have anything like that. The aliens being killed by water is stupid, but a new plot point is not in and of itself a plot twist, and the final revelation of it (and the myriad of coincidences) was just wrapping up the whole "is God watching out for us" theme that the movie was dragging along from the very beginning. It certainly didn't come from left field... the movie had been building up to that point in a way that was blindingly obvious.

That said, it was directed, edited and scored like a twist, which was obnoxious. And The Village brought back the twist in full force (and yeah, I know it was the entire point of the movie, but it was a lame point to make).

[arjue]

meh, its a fine line, I'd still call it a twist due to its stupid elaborate setup. Either way, it had the same impact (for me personally, it was "...yep.")

[Cowutopia]

I think his movies are beautiful to watch, even if they can be a bit stupid.

[sethsez]

Eh, I dunno... (spoilers for all of Shyamalan's movies) in The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and The Village, the twist wound up redefining everything you'd just watched, and made its impact (as it is, anyway) because you didn't expect it from the previous content. In Signs, the entire movie is about Mel Gibson's losing faith and wondering if there was anyone watching over him. The revelation didn't come out of left field, it was just an answer to a question the movie had been asking all the way through. In The Sixth Sense, the movie never posed the question "is Bruce dead or not?" In Unbreakable, it never asked "is Mr. Glass really the bad guy?" In The Village, it never asked "could this really be modern day?" By asking the question so blatantly throughout the entire movie, I don't think that answering it at the end really counts as a twist, especially considering the answer was such an obvious one from the rest of the content as well.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a stupid ending to an otherwise not-bad movie, but if "holy shit, through a series of coincidences and personal quirks the tide has now turned in our favor" counts as a major plot twist, then the vast majority of movies with conflict are full of major plot twists. I think it's applying the term a bit too liberally.

[arjue]

Well, i think its a matter of perspective. I see it as a twist where his wifes death, the girls water and the sons asthma, all seemingly bad things, were really for the better. They make you look back on a few major parts of the movie and see them in a different light, much like the twists in Unbreakable and the Sixth Sense. I totally get where your coming from, but I don't think a twist has to be completely unexpected, for example, the twist in fight club, which is hinted at through out the movie, particularly through Marla, and the twist in Identity, which is uber obvious.

[Drewbacca]

Wolf Creek is possibly the most beautiful horror movie I've ever seen. It has 1 startle in it, less than most (if not all) of M.Night's movies. Its affectiveness is in its realism, unpredictability, and incredible writing. It's no mere hollywood slasher, this movie feels like you are watching your friends get killed by a serial killer. Its so well made that some people aren't enjoying this movie because its too scary (not gory or horrible, but genuinely pants-shittingly scary). M.Night movies use cheap silence and kids whispering to create "suspense" and throws some ridiculous curve ball ending that would be surprising if we didn't see some kind of retarded twist coming.

You do realize this is how you create suspense in a movie? It's... ummm... one of the hardest things pull off.