M. Night Shyamalan came on to the silver screen scene at the top. The Sixth Sense, only his second feature film, was a success at the box office and praised by critics. Unbreakable and Signs, Shyamalan’s two subsequent projects, were also widely praised by critics, including the god-critic Rodger Ebert.
M. Night Shyamalan’s fairy tales ends there. The Village had his trademark surprise ending, but this time, the surprise was how badly Shyamalan whiffed. Lady in the Water continued the losing streak with the New York Post cleverly criticizing it as “dead in the water.” The intelligent thrills of Sixth Sense now seem relegated to the dusty VHS section of your local video store.
So Shyamalan did what any self-respecting director would: He went for the sure thing. He signed on to direct a live action film version of the popular Avatar series. A martial arts fantasy set in a fictional world and aimed at children will be a big departure for Shyamalan. But a sure thing?
The TV show has a pretty big following, so the box office numbers are almost built into the film already.
What if he screws it up, though? Shyamalan, even in his less successful movies, has always fallen back on his cleverness and on psychological thrills. That won’t work with Avatar; its fans will be looking to see how true he is to the spirit of the TV series. Critics will be looking to see if he can bring anything fresh to it. The rest of us will just get to see what kind of director Shyamalan really is. (Twenty years hence, will he be known simply as a film director or will he still be the guy whose best movie was The Sixth Sense?)
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