longbough

Just about everyone I come across think this director is brilliant. While I like some of his films I think he's far from world-class. To me he's just a "one trick pony."

Sixth Sense was a good movie ... while the essential plot twist can be traced back to Carnival of Souls the film itself is tightly written and well acted. It remains his best film in my opinion.

But since then M. Night Shyamalan's films have all been about the inevitable "plot twist." With film, as with literature, the "plot twist" is often a tired device. He must've been a big fan of the Twilight Zone because each film seems to have all the visceral gravity of a TZ episode.

I'm not saying this fella isn't talented ... because he is. The film, Signs, skillfully scared the bejeezus out of me in the first 40 minutes. I was convinced this was going to be a fantastic movie. But the pace just collapsed over and over again with huge time/expositional gaps that served to disengage the viewer reminding us that it's all a movie. In the end the aliens were disappointing to look at (their design was "B" picture quality by today's standards) and, once again, you realize that the characters, events and plot devices exist only to support the inevitable plot twist.

Unbreakable was the same way.

I'm not saying he makes bad movies. That is just a matter of taste. I just don't think that M. Night Shyamalan is very original as a director/writer. And his characters are 2 dimensional at best ... but are usually less than that.

I just think he's overrated.

Please tell me I'm not alone.