Open Forum Friday: Can M. Night Shyamalan’s Career Survive The Happening?
The release of M. Night Shyamalan’s latest suspense-thriller The Happening is about a month away now, and while I’m really looking forward to it, I know there are a lot of people who really aren’t. It’s to the point where every time a trailer for The Happening plays in a theatre, people around me start giggling and making fun of it. Now I will admit that the trailer itself is pretty vague, and gives you very little to go on (which I’m sure was intentional), but after making a number of movies with a very similar, recognizable style, I think M. Night Shyamalan is running the risk of becoming a parody of himself.
A new clip from The Happening has hit the web this week, along with a review of the film over at Collider, and the reaction has been VERY negative. It may only be one review, but they are slamming it without mercy. And it’s not just Shyamalan they’re slamming: “I’m saying this with no hyperbole, but Wahlberg might very well give the worst performance I’ve ever seen in anything”. Well, I think it goes without saying that if Shyamalan follows up Lady in the Water with something potentially even worse, what little public support he does have will simply evaporate. What do you think… will The Happening be as bad as these early reports seem to indicate? Will M. Night Shyamalan ever get back his reputation as the brilliant young filmmaker who gave us The Sixth Sense? Will studios ever want to go near one of his projects again? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (16)
The Sixth Sense was just alright in my opinion… for me, it was one of those movies that felt waaay too smug for it’s own good. I didn’t really have that much respect for the guy, but after the god awful experience that was “The Village” I kinda just wanna scream “HACK!” whenever I see his name or face.
But even if this movie is terrible, and I personally don’t see how it could be anything but terrible, I can’t imagine his career will be over. Someone will probably go to bat for him. However, I can’t envision him getting a whole lot of critical support for whatever career he’ll have left after this one.
Posted by Derek on May 16th, 2008I think M.N.S. just does his own thing, and it was luck that The Sixth Sense was a big hit. The films since then have also been really good, IMO, and I dig his style, but they aren’t meant for everyone.
Posted by joe on May 16th, 2008I think the trailer looks really interesting and I will be going to the cinema to see this. I didn’t see Lady in the Water but I really liked everything else he has done, including the Village. I’m hoping it is just as good as Signs.
Posted by Stephen on May 16th, 2008As long as Uwe Boll gets work, M. Night will get work. Because even though larger studios may start to doubt Night, he’ll always find someone who will want to hire him for something. But I do think he has peaked and his high profile days are numbered.
Posted by Brett on May 16th, 2008I really hope “The Happening” is good. I’m from Philadelphia, and he’s done a lot for this city(escpecially the film community.) I was a P.A. on both “The Village” and “Lady in the Water” and during filming I thought they looked awesome and told everyone I knew as much. When both films turned out to be divisive to say the least, I took a lot of shit. I liked both of them, but honestly, they were mediocre compared to what Night can do. “The Happening” looks like a return to his roots, and I am going in with no preconcieved notions. It’s easily one of my most anticipated movies of the summer.
Posted by Jon Rocks on May 16th, 2008By the way, I meant M. Night is returning to his roots as in “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable”– not “Wide Awake.”
Just had to clarify.
Posted by Jon Rocks on May 16th, 2008I’m looking forward to The Happening. I don’t think this film will be as poorly received as Lady in the Water, so I suppose there’s hope for Shayamalan yet.
Posted by Rian on May 16th, 2008I am looking forward to The Happening very much. It really depends how bad this film is to change my opinion of M. Night. I think he is an awesome director and even if it was a film I didn’t really like by him, it was at least shot very well.
I kind of feel the same way about M. Night as I do with Brian DePalma. For every Scarface/Carlito’s Way, he’ll do something like The Bonfire of the Vanities or Black Dahlia. So I think that M. Night will always have a job as a director no matter how much negativity he recieves.
Posted by Primal on May 16th, 2008I think Night will always find work. His stories, whatever one might say about them have commercial viability and appeal.
Unfortunately his track record of films as far as I’m concern is really been downward trend. Sense was great, but Unbreakable was just surprise twist that I figured out, the Signs was good with a really stupid ending (aliens, whose weakness was water coming to a planet composed of 2/3 water…stupid!), and the village was a cheap twilight zone with another ending that was broadcasted for miles (wasted a brilliant performace from Ron Howard’s daughter), and let’s not start with Lady in the Water.
I was intrigued with the original Happening trailer, but after watching that extended clip on yahoo was really perplexed by the poor acting from good actors and the really bad music. I hope this good but if not it will definitely set Night back career wise. He’ll work, but without all the fanfare.
Posted by 1138 on May 16th, 2008The guy just needs to listen to reason. Not every idea that pops in his head is good. The village was a shit idea. The Lady in water was even worse. I’m sure people told him has such. That being said I’m looking forward to the Happening. I hope its creepy like Signs.
Posted by theman on May 17th, 2008Lady in the Water was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in theaters. Remember that critic’s death scene? Complete bullshit. Luckily he is a solid visual stylist.
I thought the same thing about him being a parody of himself with the trailer to The Happening. I just hope The Last Airbender won’t deviate much from the cartoon.
Posted by Ryan on May 17th, 2008I wasn’t a fan of his last two movies, but the trailer for The Happening piqued my interest, if only because of the jarring, loud-ass noises throughout. All the kids in the theater I watched it in (we were seeing Iron Man on opening day) were completely freaked and a girl behind me started crying. Making a bunch of kids cry over a trailer is a pretty good sign in my book.
Posted by Joel on May 17th, 2008I’m somewhat forgiving for M Night when he does something new, at least it keeps me awake in this endless dirge of cinema, ad for the most part like the films he has made. I will not drink the Kool-Aid and suggest Lady in the Water is anything but a failure.
Posted by rot on May 17th, 2008The Happening looks horrible but I think Shyamalan will make films for many years to come. Look back to 2006 when Lady In The Water came out. The critics hated the film and it didn’t do that well at the box office. However there are some people, Jay Cheel included, who defend the film and say that they love it. This shows us that however bad Shyamalan’s films become they will still get made because there are people out there who love the guy and will see any movie with his name on it.
Posted by CastleKnight on May 18th, 2008The trailer for The Happening looks very, very good. But so did the trailers for Signs and The Village and they turned out to be crap IMO.
I think he just needs to stop writing his own scripts. The guy is a huge talent when it comes to the look of his films and just crams atmosphere in there but it’s the stories that just fall apart when it comes down to it all.
I had no interest in seeing Lady in the Water after I saw The Village but I’m very interested in this and I also fear that the story will be its weakest point.
Posted by Swarez on May 18th, 2008The Village was definitely a let down, though at first and interesting concept.
Posted by Baychuk on May 19th, 2008Leave a Reply