David Pierdomenico
Back in August 2002, M. Night Shyamalan was featured on the cover of Newsweek with a headline that read “The next Spielberg”. The Sixth Sense had been a smash hit and Signs was opening to a great deal of acclaim and anticipation. We then witnessed his career and reputation take a complete nosedive. Most fans had disregarded Shyamalan as a soon to be forgotten has been or one hit wonder. Much to his delight however, he’s spent the last few years proving just how wrong everyone was.
Doomed From the Start
Sometimes, too much success and praise can be damaging. Audiences and critics both raved about The Sixth Sense and its famous twist ending. And to be fair, the praise was warranted. The film was suspenseful, dramatic, tense, and brilliantly acted by Bruce Willis, Toni Collette and a very young Haley Joel Osment. It was even nominated for several Academy Awards (Picture, Director, Screenplay, and supporting Actor/Actress), which is nearly impossible for horror films to achieve. And in the wake of its reception, Shyamalan was applauded as a genius. And the world unanimously declared that everything he did from then on out would be an instant masterpiece.
In the films that followed, Shyamalan was given total creative freedom, and because everyone declared him a genius, there was no need to seek advice, feedback, or constructive criticism. All the while, he was also trying to recapture the magic by giving every film a twist ending, none of which ever came close to The Sixth Sense (except for maybe Unbreakable). So it’s really not that surprising that he went downhill as quickly as he did. Fans ridiculed The Village, Lady in the Water, and The Happening. But to be honest, each were following the same formula that had worked in his previous hits.
Learning From His Mistakes
After several critical and fan failures, Shyamalan was forced to look inward. He tried to do something outside his comfort zone when he adapted the beloved Nickelodeon show Avatar into The Last Airbender, which again was despised by most audiences. By this point, he was infamous for ruining what was supposed to be a franchise, and his name had even become synonymous with cheesy twists. In 2013’s After Earth, Columbia Pictures went so far as to hide Shyamalan’s name from all advertising and promotional material. Those who saw the trailers only knew that it starred Will Smith and his son Jaden, and that it was a sort of spiritual follow up the previous film they worked together on, The Pursuit of Happyness.
What this resulted in was a huge opening weekend, following by one of the sharpest declines ever in the next one; all due to word of mouth. It was at this point that everything finally seemed to be coming to an end for him. It had been eleven years since his last well received film (Signs in 2002), and studios were no longer willing to work with him anymore. Audiences were tired of his style, after being disappointed five times in a row. Then, only two years later, he showed the world that he still had something to say.
Going Back to His Roots
2015’s The Visit was a far cry from what Shyamalan had done in recent years. It was his first independent film in over a decade, and its budget was smaller than every other mainstream film he had done. The Visit was much smaller and simpler in scale, and was merely a creepy found footage film, that didn’t delve into the supernatural or paranormal. After hearing criticism of his awkward dialogue being unintentionally funny, he countered it by making the film a dark comedy. He knew people would laugh anyway so he figured, why not make it intentional? Many fans went into this film with apprehension, but left thoroughly enjoying it.
Barely a year later, Shyamalan proved this wasn’t a fluke by releasing another low budget, independent thriller with Split. Once again, it was smaller in scale and incredibly tense. It also revisited one of his earlier, very popular films Unbreakable. Which brings us to today. Next year audiences will be treated to the ultimate culmination with Glass, which will feature Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson from Unbreakable, as well as James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy from Split. Shyamalan has revealed that this was his original plan all along, to produce a trilogy. However the landscape was quite different back in 2000 and the world wasn’t ready for a gritty, realistic superhero movie. But eighteen years later, with the success of The Dark Knight, as well as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, things have changed.
His journey has certainly had more turbulent highs and lows than most other filmmakers. And while there are many directors who initially show promise only to disappoint later, very few of them are able to make this kind of comeback. His last two films were incredibly well received and Glass remains one of the most anticipated films of 2019. Five years ago, everyone believed he was done and that he should simply give up. And the fact that he came back with a vengeance earns him mad respect.
