# M. Night Shyamalan explains why he gets bad reviews now. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727 "2013-09-13T01:12:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/42 "2013-09-13T19:38:25Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I didn’t know he was the screen writer for Stuart Little. What a difference from his thrillers. Not really. The twist is that Stuart Little is actually A MOUSE! BOO! ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/43 "2013-09-13T19:51:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’ve never really understood these criticisms. > > 1. You aren’t told why the aliens landed on Earth but it doesn’t really matter, does it? Yes, the Earth is mostly water. But water’s no good for US, either, and we live here. Drop a human into a random place on Earth and 70% of the time they drown, and a pretty good chunk of the other 30% they freeze or dehydrate. Presumably, there aren’t that many livable planets to invade and the aliens just took their chances, so what? > > I mean, humans do this shit too. The death rate among the early colonists in North America was something like 75%. > > 1. The aliens are not unusually susceptible to being hit with bats, it just happens that Joaquin Phoenix’s character was a baseball player and there was a baseball bat there. We see no evidence that beating the shit out of the alien with a baseball bat was how anyone else dealt with them. The point of that is that it connect to the dying wife’s final words; why she said that we do not know for sure, but they inspire Mel Gibson’s character to remind his brother of the weapon he has at hand. But the aliens haven’t just used rickety wooden devices to float across the water. They have technology to travel across interstellar space and make themselves invisible. Surely they’ve figured out the concept of armor and space suits? Especially when we’re talking about a chemical as ubiquitous as water. Honestly, the water thing really comes across to me like he got 85 minutes into his script and had to wrap things up so he pulled something out of his ass and then added some bizarre foreshadowing via the little girl. As others have said, it would have made as much sense to have it be any material - fertilizer or milk or belly button lint all make just as much sense. There was never any thought about how hydrophobic aliens would act or what being hydrophobic tells us about them. It’s just a deus ex machina for a happy ending, and War of the Worlds did it better 100 years earlier. And in that sense, it’s also like why aliens travel across the galaxy just to make noises at night and scare little kids. They do it because MNS wants a spooky, suspenseful movie. You don’t get that if they nuke us from orbit or do something else that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/44 "2013-09-13T19:58:24Z")
The aliens aren’t harmed by water. They’re harmed by _holy_ water. This is because the “aliens” aren’t aliens, and if you didn’t figure that out by that point in the movie then you weren’t paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/45 "2013-09-13T20:19:07Z")
I just want to point out that if The Happening was supposed to be a comedy, it isn’t all that bad. Sadly, I think he thought it would be taken…kind of seriously. I have no idea why he thought that, but it is a funny movie. And a great Rifftrax. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/46 "2013-09-13T22:06:49Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The aliens aren’t harmed by water. > > They’re harmed by _holy_ water. > > This is because the “aliens” aren’t aliens, and if you didn’t figure that out by that point in the movie then you weren’t paying attention. I’ll defend _Signs_ gladly and at length, but if you think there’s a “right” answer to why the aliens were the way they were, _you’re_ the one who wasn’t paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/47 "2013-09-13T22:18:31Z")
I’m a pretty big Shyamalan fan. I think The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are truly excellent movies. I like Signs and The Village (while acknowledging that there are some things in each that break suspension of disbelief for some people). I like The Lady in the Water, although I think it’s ultimately a flawed movie. I think he took some great risks in it and some of them paid off. The Happening was just terrible, though, by any standard. It’s laugh-out-loud dumb in so many ways. I got bored by The Last Airbender, but I think that it’s just not the sort of movie that I am interested in. I think and hope he’s got some more good movies in him, although the trend is certainly downward in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/48 "2013-09-13T23:44:43Z")
Signs wasn’t, I don’t think, really about the science of “Why are the aliens harmed by water” and all that. It’s a movie about somebody who’s lost his faith and then gets it back. He’s not able to save his wife’s life, and he blames God, and then the whole process of saving his son’s life helps him regain it. ---
**Author:** ![SirGalahad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71c47a/32.png) [@SirGalahad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirGalahad)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/49 "2013-09-14T00:11:55Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Signs wasn’t, I don’t think, really about the science of “Why are the aliens harmed by water” and all that. It’s a movie about somebody who’s lost his faith and then gets it back. He’s not able to save his wife’s life, and he blames God, and then the whole process of saving his son’s life helps him regain it. Right, I agree the idea is profound, but the same message could be delivered in a movie without silly and convenient plot failings. Aliens succumbing to tap water, rain, urine, whatever is hardly a step above “Mars Attacks!” or the Twilight Zone’s “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/50 "2013-09-14T00:38:11Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Signs wasn’t, I don’t think, really about the science of “Why are the aliens harmed by water” and all that. It’s a movie about somebody who’s lost his faith and then gets it back. He’s not able to save his wife’s life, and he blames God, and then the whole process of saving his son’s life helps him regain it. Yep, it’s a great movie and I think he still had talent then. His first significant dip in quality was The Village, which was nice until the twist…was the twist we all assumed was not going to bet the twist. Then, Lady in the Water. I just saw this for the first time about 2-3 weeks ago. It was really bad, but I think had he gone back to solid movies, I could have seen this as a failed attempt at a “weirder” movie. Then, the Happening. Well, it’s terrible as a thriller or a horror movie. Again, it’s funny…but more like “The Room”, where I’m positive they didn’t think it was a comedy while making it. Total crap and just badly filmed. Extreme close-ups that would make the new Les Mis movie blush. Last Airbender. It’s super, super, super dull. I’ve seen and love the show, but it is irrelevant. It’s a snooze-fest. And additionally, he must have only quickly watched the show and missed all the best things in it. Still, it sucks all around. After Earth. I have no idea. Did anyone see it? Some tiny, tiny part of me still thinks he’ll make a good movie again. I don’t know why, but I still think it is possible. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/51 "2013-09-14T00:41:30Z")
I thought Signs was about a hard ass older brother and his gay younger brother finally earning his respect by smashing things to death with a bat. No? ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/52 "2013-09-14T01:33:04Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Signs wasn’t, I don’t think, really about the science of “Why are the aliens harmed by water” and all that. It’s a movie about somebody who’s lost his faith and then gets it back. He’s not able to save his wife’s life, and he blames God, and then the whole process of saving his son’s life helps him regain it. I agree with this and in that sense, it’s a movie I appreciate. However, I think there are ways to communicate this main point while doing the aliens justice as well. I get that the protagonists have to beat the aliens in some way to work. I just think they could have spent fifteen minutes coming up with a more plausible way to beat the aliens. If I’m going to call someone a great writer or director, I expect them to pay attention to these details. It’s like what we would think of the set designer if the house is white in one scene and blue in the next. Yeah, we can overlook it, but it’s shoddy work. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/53 "2013-09-14T01:40:07Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > After Earth. I have no idea. Did anyone see it? I did not see it, but everything I heard was bad. 11% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is bad, but combined with an audience score under 50% (it’s at 42%) it’s generally a pretty bad sign. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/54 "2013-09-14T01:48:29Z")
We liked _The Sixth Sense_, _Unbreakable_ and _Signs_, but everything since then has sounded so bad that we’ve not bothered. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/55 "2013-09-14T02:21:21Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > I actually always thought (but have no real evidence to support it) that the water-soluble aliens in _Sign_s were inspired by the aliens from _War of the Worlds_, which eventually got killed off by the common cold, sort of underscoring their alienness: I always thought it was Day of the Triffids. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/56 "2013-09-14T02:43:01Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > I think he’s a victim of huge early success, in many ways. > > Sixth Sense was phenomenal, Unbreakable was pretty good. Signs is AMAZING but got criticized because people were expecting a hard sci-fi movie for some reason, instead of a character story about the nature of faith. I thought the Village was great too, but many people dislike that one for some reason. (either the twist was too unlikely, or too obvious, take your pick) > > Lady in the Water was kinda lame, but not worth ridicule. It just wasn’t as good as his earlier work. The Happening was truly terrible, not sure what happened there. > > The public seems to rejoice in watching the mighty tumble, so I think although his later work is not up to his early standards, he gets far more grief than he deserves. I agree with all of this. I never saw Airbender but I did see Devil (he was a producer and writer but not the director) and I thought it was a pretty good movie as well. I think he gets the flack he does because he has always been a pompus ass. He has crowed about how awesome he is since The Sixth Sense and I don’t think people like that about him. I think he is sort of a cinematic Dr. House, who in real life (even if he was the world’s most amazing doctor) would be scraping the bottom of the barrel for patients because no one wants to work with someone who is _that_ much of an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/57 "2013-09-14T02:54:46Z")
Here was my personal timeline to his movies (by reaction). First movie I saw by him (Sixth Sense) I was kind of like: OMG, I did NOT see that coming! What a great ending. Then I saw Unbreakable. Reaction was kind of like: Wow, I didn’t see that coming. Pretty good…but not as good as Sixth Sense… Then I saw Signs: Ohh, I get it…because he had asthma, it didn’t affect him…okay, yeah… Not bad. Eh…pretty good. Then I saw The Village Wow, this movie is kind of boring. Wait, the monsters are really the villagers? Eh, who cares. I sort of already predicted that. What am I going to do after this movie, I wonder… Then I saw Lady in the Water Yawn…what a boring movie. Oh, they’re all not the things they thought they were? Who gives a shit? /proceeds to tune much of the rest of the movie out Most recently I saw The Happening OMG, this movie can NOT get any worse! What dreck. I want that time wasted back. So you see, my reactions to his movies have really dulled over the years…so no matter what he says the reasoning is, I agree with those who say it’s the fact that he pretty much sucks now and not even close to the reasons he gave. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/58 "2013-09-14T03:13:26Z")
My reactions have been similar to those listed in the post by **Idle Thoughts**. However, I bailed on any further torture after _The Village_. To see the excellent film work in _The Sixth Sense_ deteriorate to the nonsense in _The Village_ convinced me that Mr. Shyamalan has more in common with Ed Wood than with any masters of the genre like Hitchcock or even De Palma. There were episodes of _The Twilight Zone_ that were more rewarding and much less pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/59 "2013-09-14T03:43:57Z")
At least three people in this thread have brought up “The Twilight Zone”, which gives me an idea. Let’s let Shyamalan host an anthology sci-fi / weird stories show! He could direct a few episodes if he wanted (he’s actually got directing talent), and may write one or two episodes per season. I think the shorter format would suit his abilities better than a full-length feature film. The best part? He’ll be too busy to make more movies. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/60 "2013-09-14T05:25:49Z")
I will just add to the chorus of Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were great (I actually think that Unbreakable is a better movie but I agree it is only half a movie, that’s a very valid criticism and I can see why it disappoints people in that regard. Then came Signs, and my irrevocable hatred of all things from M. Night. Signs blew, AWFULLY HARD. I am shocked honestly that it got good reviews. I remember REALLY looking forward to it. And I could almost forgive it for the awful deus ex thing if it wasn’t such a pretentious piece of garbage about losing your faith and getting it back again. It was so painfully obvious and so over-the-top in this regard that I think I rolled my eyes so hard I broke something in my brain. In fact, I credit Signs for being one of the straws that broke the camel’s back and turned me permanently toward atheism. The fact that it was just a terrible sci-fi movie traipsing around with a VERY heavy-handed religious message of “don’t blame god and don’t lose your faith” made it ridiculously terrible. I gave up on him after that, but did get around to watching The Happening just because I liked Wahlberg so much. I lowered my expectations immensely, and was still severely disappointed. Never again will I spend a dime on his shit unless it gets absolute rave reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727/61 "2013-09-14T06:24:01Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > _Unbreakable_ was pretty good, for what it was. > > Unfortunately what it was was half a movie. It was like if _Fight Club_ abruptly ended right after Ed Norton figures out he’s Tyler Durden, and we were given the rest of the story via blurbs on title cards. Somehow Mr. Shyamalan had not figured out that a revelation is not the same thing as a resolution. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yep, it’s a great movie and I think he still had talent then. > > His first significant dip in quality was The Village, which was nice until the twist…was the twist we all assumed was not going to bet the twist. > > Then, Lady in the Water. I just saw this for the first time about 2-3 weeks ago. It was really bad, but I think had he gone back to solid movies, I could have seen this as a failed attempt at a “weirder” movie. > > Then, the Happening. Well, it’s terrible as a thriller or a horror movie. Again, it’s funny…but more like “The Room”, where I’m positive they didn’t think it was a comedy while making it. Total crap and just badly filmed. Extreme close-ups that would make the new Les Mis movie blush. > > Last Airbender. It’s super, super, super dull. I’ve seen and love the show, but it is irrelevant. It’s a snooze-fest. And additionally, he must have only quickly watched the show and missed all the best things in it. Still, it sucks all around. > > After Earth. I have no idea. Did anyone see it? > > Some tiny, tiny part of me still thinks he’ll make a good movie again. I don’t know why, but I still think it is possible. I think this is a key factor. You can accept a tacked-on twist ending if the movie wasn’t really about the ending. You can enjoy an action thriller or a horror movie or a dark comedy for what they are and if the ending seems a little off, it doesn’t ruin the rest of the movie. But with Shyamalan the ending _is_ the movie - everything is just leading to the ending. That worked in _The Sixth Sense_ - the ending there was enough of a payoff to carry the entire movie. But Shyamalan hasn’t managed to hit it a second time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/m-night-shyamalan-explains-why-he-gets-bad-reviews-now/668727.md?page=4)