Why did this movie get such bad reviews? I decided not to see it because so many people had a bad opinion of it, and it was a fluke that I caught it this evening. If you saw this movie, what did you think about it? If you didn’t like it, why not?
I had a strong emotional reaction to the main character, as I watched him and learned more about his history. Some parts of the movie were campy, or complete fantasy, but something about the atmosphere and characters kept my disbelief properly suspended. Shyamalan has had this effect on me with most of his movies, with the exception of Signs.
I have a feeling this movie was overlooked by a lot of people for the same reasons I passed it up. If you haven’t seen it, give it a shot!
I thought it was entertaining, but M. Night Shyamalan is one of the worst directors out there, he hasn’t made a single thing that was great. Lady In the Water was like a really good Sci Fi Channel movie with a good cast. I enjoyed it, but find it the least memorable of all his films. The reason it’s the least memorable is because it wasn’t inexorable crap.
That’s pretty harsh. Just about everyone liked The Sixth Sense when it came out. Shyamalan has his flaws, but I think he makes movies that are usually at LEAST better-than-average (again, with the exception of Signs). What major problems do you see with his directing?
He’s been uneven, but “The Sixth Sense” is a really excellent film, and worked brilliantly. Especially:
…when Bruce Willis’s character is late to dinner with his wife. The first time I saw it, I thought “what a bitch”. And of course, the second time I saw it, my reaction was completely different - she was heartbroken. Exact same piece of film, completely different reaction.
That takes skill. I’d say he’s a much more talented directer than writer and needs to film scripts by other people for a while.
I agree with gaffa. The Sixth Sense is a pretty good movie. Everything since then has been progressively worse. I’d rather feed my lips to weasels than watch Lady in the Water again.
Ok, The Sixth Sense was a haunting movie. I’ll give you that. I knew the twist, and it wasn’t yet a cheesy gimmick as it was his first film. I didn’t have the joy of seeing it from a different angle as a result.
Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, were all terrible films. Lady in the Water was mediocre but not terrible.
Hubris. He’s like mid-career Spielberg (see Hook): he thinks, “I’m M. Night Fucking Shyamalan, any idea I have is by definition a brilliant idea, because I’m M. Night Fucking Shyamalan!”
He needs a little humility. At least enough to realize that it’s possible–more than possible; it’s downright likely–that some of the ideas he has as a writer are going to be *bad *ideas. He needs to let someone else in on the process. Preferably someone who’s capable of kicking his ass. I get the feeling he only surrounds himself with people who are good at *kissing *ass instead.
What? No hatred for The Happening? The overarching concept (something is affecting large numbers of people’s brains and making them commit suicide) is intriguing and he managed to completely and totally undercut it. All signs of the man who created a tight, intriguing, and well shot movie in The Sixth Sense are completely gone.
I don’t know anything about who he surrounds himself with, but it does seem like stuff that never would have gotten through serious pre-production editing is somehow able to sneak through lots of his work. Especially when it comes to word choices and camera shots and non-story-related stuff.
There’s a dramatic scene where the characters have to outrun the wind.
Let me repeat that: The. Wind.
And for a movie called “The Happening” there’s very little actual “happening”.
Just so this doesn’t look like a complete non-sequitur to those wandering across it The Happening is Shyamalan’s most recent movie which had an even stronger negative public reaction than Lady in the Water.
It was coming right after Signs and movie lovers had already fallen out of love with Shamalayan. Reports of his overblown ego were appearing everywhere and this movie was horribly marketed as a horror flick, which made a lot of people feel duped.
I don’t think it’s a bad movie. Paul Giamatti and his husky voice are excellent, Bryce Dallas Howard is wonderfully elvish and there’s that scene in the pool.
But on the other hand it kinda reminds me of one of those Swedish or Korean “author” movies, when there are good ideas but the director doesn’t have an annoying producer asking questions like “That’s very nice, but what’s the point of it all?” or “Isn’t this people just accepting that the laws of narrative apply to them a bit too happily?” or “Yeah, sure, kill an evil critic in your movie. That won’t look at all like an egocentric and defensive.”
But it’s different. An often interesting. And I think it’s one of those few movies that would benefit of an American remake.
The movie wasn’t a classic, but it wasn’t terrible enough to earn some of the pans it got. I enjoyed it, for the most part.
I think after Signs and the Village, everybody was anxious to hate Shyamalan, plus the fact that he cast himself in such an important role came across as narcissistic.
Wasn’t there some kind of film critic character who got eaten? That might have sealed its fate too. You don’t want to pick a fight with the film critics.
I was lucky in that I had no idea what the twist, or indeed that there was a twist at all. So I was able to see the film fresh, and I was surprised and moved.
I liked “Unbreakable”, enjoyed “Signs” (though the way they were defeated was bone stupid), didn’t care for “The Village”, liked “Lady in the Water” more than the critics did and thought “The Happening” was a big old pile of dumb.
I didn’t like Lady in the Water because it went on.
. . . and on. And on. And nothing. Interesting. Happened.
I swear I watched that movie for 3 or 4 hours, fell asleep, woke up and went to the mall because it was still on. Shopped around for awhile, ate at the food court, and took the scenic route home. When I got back it was STILL on, so I took it back to Blockbuster and I will never, ever bother with another split second of it. The Chinese army could not hold me down to finish watching that movie.
I enjoyed it. I think a lot of that enjoyment would have been undermined if I had realized the The Savior of The World was played by Shyamalan himself.
I also think the whole bit with the critic was stupid and counterproductive. If you’re trying to get your audience to buy into a fairytale, getting all meta and snarky is going to interfere with that.
But I love Paul Giamatti, and Bryce Dallas Howard does a great job, and the story is kind of fun (though yes, it could have been edited down.)
I found LITW very silly but at least watchable enough to pass the time. Paul Giamatti is always good, regardless of the material.
The Happening was just plain goofy, with ridiculous dialogue and not-so-good acting.
