Does anyone else think M. Night Shyamalan is overrated?
 

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.

well i have to agree on most of what you said.
the 6th sense was great. i really liked it. even if theres a twist at the end, it doesnt make it a bad movie. theres even a thread somewhere about the best suprise or twist endings and all of those are great movies.

unbreakable was a great movie! i kinda wish it was a bit longer to explain a few more things but still a great movie.

signs was awesome till they brought in the religious talks. that just killed it for me. but overall a great scary movie.

the village was a dissapointement. and his last movie i didnt see. so i wouldnt say he's a bad dirrector but an average one.

I liked Signs and Lady in the Water. I hated *The Sixth Sense* and The Village. I was indifferent about Unbreakable. The thing is that the individual take on a movie is highly subjective. M Knight is like any other director, he has some popular movies and some unpopular movies. I don't know if he is overrated or not, but I do like some of his work. Even Spielberg makes crap from time to time.

He's OK, but man is he sloooooooooow. His movies would be a lot snappier if he could keep them down to ninety minutes. Unfortunately he's got that mid-90s arthouse "auteur" idea that films have to be interminable to be critically acclaimed.

I never reall thought he was rated

Well, I thought it was premature when they put him on the cover of Newsweek calling him the "Next Spielberg" after his second(?) movie.

Granted, that was a couple of years ago but I know a few folks who still put him on a pedestal. God bless him, he's a kid who found a niche ... but the most promising talented new filmakers/writers eventually expand and mature to show a greater creative range (even with arguable "flops") when they get recognition (e.g. Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, etc.) ... I don't see that happening here.

no you're not alone.....his movies are too predictable to warrant the price of a movie ticket...IF I watch them I watch them when HBO or who ever runs them. He doesnt give me the same feeling about going to see a movie that say something by Spielberg does

What?
Seriously though, M. Night is not neccessarily over-rated, I just think that after Sixth Sense, there was a pressure on him to make movies with that Perfect Twist. Yeah twists are cool, but not a requirement for a good movie.

Just my 2 cents.

Sixth Sense and Unbreakable was excellent, and I really enjoyed Lady in the Water. Signs and The Village were awful though.

I think he's a really good director, but I agree that he was WAY overrated after Sixth Sense. Even worse, I get the impression that he's believing the hype himself and trying WAY too hard to live up to it. I really hope that with Lady in the Lake doing poorly (by his standards) that it will let him get out of the genre he's been pigeonholed in and get creative in other ways.

To his credit, I think he's a master when it comes to creating mood. The scene in Signs when they figure out that the baby monitor is receiving alien signals, and then wordlessly pass it back and forth trying to get the best reception was a real stunner. His films are full of such moments.

That said, he can be bit self indulgent (casting himself for example) and I didn't bother seeing The Village or Lady in the Water. Signs was great until it collapsed at the end.

He must be under a lot of pressure to recreate the success of The Sixth Sense. I believe he has another "complete" film in him and I look forward to it.

I have mixed feelings about M. Night. I have no idea what to make of my feelings on Lady in the Water. I thought it was an uneven movie. I did, however, like The Village, The Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable. I'm a bit torn on Signs. As to some people's comments about Spielberg, I find that he cannot finish a movie. I often feel that thirty minutes to an hour of his films could be cut, especially Minority Report, Saving Private Ryan, A.I., War of the Worlds,and The Terminal. While watching these particular Spielberg films, I felt like an ADHD kid without his medicine. I was just waiting for them to end and felt that they ended several times or could/should have.

Sixth Sense was great. So was Signs. The Village was lousy. He's getting predictable. But then bashing the guy because he's found a successful niche is somewhat disingenuous.

After all, it worked for George Lucas ;)

I didn't bash him ...

All I said was that he's become a "niche" director. So we both agree.

i was pissed off after i seen the village.

i wasted 13 bucks on the piece of shit. I just noticed that all of the commercials to his movies look bad assed, but the movies themselves arent.

Personally, I've liked everyone of his movies. I think his style of directing is unique, much like Quentin and Spike. He's carved his little niche and IMO I think he is a really good director.

I think that he's going to have to snap out of this little niche or he'll find that he's out of work.

He has one thing going for him. His movies are relatively inexpensive and they tend to be profitable.

I don't like him much. Liked Sixth Sense a lot, but that was it.

Unbreakable is like one of my most despised movies ever. Can't put my finger on why, it just is.

The Village was terrible.

Everybody knows now going into his movies to just go and expect the plot twist. Surprise endings are supposed to be just that, surprising. When everyone of your movies has them it isn't exciting anymore.

I loved the Sixth Sense. It was great.
I know alot of people dont like Unbreakable but I really dug it. I thought it was a great twist on the superhero genre.
Signs... I loved Signs until the very end of the movie. You should have NEVER seen the aliens.
The Village. Blah. Total waste of my time.
Havent even bothered to see the new one yet.

So, these kinds of threads are pointless; and I mean that with no disrespect intended.

It's all to do with user preference and opinion.

I like Shyamalan's movies. I guess the Village was my least favourite, but I liked the other stuff, apart from the Lady in the Lake which I have not seen.

So, is he "over rated"? Well, by whom? I "rate" him as a good director and I enjoy his movies, so the answer is no.

But then again, others will say yes, he is over rated.

See what I mean?

Mr Mephisto

I think he's a really talented director. I also think he's remarkable because his writing and directing seem to be used in service of storytelling, and a focus on the reason for the medium is surprisingly unusual these days. This may not make sense to some, but even if I don't enjoy one of Shyamalan's films, I still think they're "good". That's really something - to me that is one sign that someone has engaged me on an artistic level and not just an entertainment level.

This thread exists in the following context.
The director, from the outset, was praised as the next Spielberg on the cover of Newsweek and, except for the last movie, was still lauded by Roger Ebert and everyone I knew still think he's a genius. So this is more of a reality check to see if I'm the only one in the known universe who doesn't agree.

I've said this all before. My intent should be obvious if you read the title of this thread and read my comments.