Guest Post: A Twist Ending for M. Night Shyamalan's Career?

The following is a guest post.

When M. Night Shyamalan released "The Sixth Sense" in 1999, it was a breath of fresh air for the movie industry. At the time, horror movies were in vogue — thanks largely to the "Scream" franchise and its emulators — and audiences were prepared for a psychological spine-tingler with both heart and brains.

The success of "The Sixth Sense" was undeniable: It grossed an astonishing $672.8 million worldwide and remains in the top 50 highest-grossing movies of all time. Unfortunately, it also launched the slow downward trajectory of its director's career.

Quite simply, M. Night has never really been able to compete with himself.

Let’s Twist Again

This problem wasn't immediately apparent. The next film, "Unbreakable," made less than $300 million at the box office, but it still received some positive critical attention. Indeed, some even found it to be a refreshing twist on the superhero genre — a genre that was just barely beginning to come into its own after a long absence in Hollywood. All the same, it did earn far less than its predecessor, and many viewers walked away feeling mildly befuddled about the experience, unsure of what they had just watched.

And so, naturally, Shyamalan returned to his horror movie roots with "Signs" in 2002. This story about aliens and faith fared better in the box office than "Unbreakable," even if it didn't match "The Sixth Sense's" immense success, and it managed to overcome a few crippling plot holes to become a genuinely fine film.

Unfortunately, that's the last time such a thing can really be said in good conscience about any of Shyamalan's work.

Twist of Fate

2004's "The Village" earned roughly as much as "Unbreakable," but it received none of the charitable critical acclaim. "Lady in the Water" fared even worse in 2006, earning less than it cost to produce and receiving scathing reviews from the handful of people who bothered to watch it. "The Happening" made a small profit, but by then, Shyamalan's once-revered name had become a household joke, and even people who didn't bother to watch the newest film could be heard snickering about killer trees.

After "The Happening," an interesting phenomenon occurred. Previously, M. Night Shyamalan's name had been proudly exhibited on every movie poster and DVD case as a selling point for the film's quality. This is conspicuously absent in his most recent two films. Indeed, many of the people watching both "The Last Airbender" and "After Earth" didn't realize who had directed it until the credits began to roll. Clearly, Shyamalan has recognized that his name no longer carries any valuable brand recognition. However, if "After Earth's" dismal box office performance (in the US at least) is anything to go by, he has yet to find a way to turn his plummeting career around.

Round the Twist

He has, at least, apparently recognized some of his flaws and moved to avoid them. He successfully smothered the Hitchcockian impulse to appear in his most recent films, and he's eschewed the increasingly ridiculous deus ex machina endings that had become synonymous with his films. Unfortunately, by casting off his most iconic, albeit dysfunctional, elements, he's now struggling to find an identity and re-brand himself. It's a noble attempt, but it might be a case of too little, too late.

If Shyamalan has any intention of salvaging his career, he'll need to do some thorough soul-searching and accept a few hard truths — first and foremost that he should relinquish some creative control over his projects. He has never directed a film that he didn't have a hand in writing, and this amount of creative monopoly is crippling, especially when the screenplay has been the primary problem with the majority of his films. If it’s not too bold to suggest, perhaps he could do worse than taking some formal education as an attempt to rebuild himself; it’s not too laughable a suggestion and there’d be no shame in taking a few refresher classes. Plenty of already-established directors and filmmakers have attended the NYFA after already becoming established in the industry.

There's a possibility that, once stripped of his favorite tropes and forced to focus purely on the directorial side of storytelling, Shyamalan might prove to have some real talent hiding under his nearly two decades of pretentiousness. Unfortunately, even if that proves to be the case, it's not at all likely that people will ever give him that chance unless he re-packages himself entirely, new name included.

Which would, in a way, be the most fitting end to the story. Indeed, were M. Night Shyamalan writing the story of his own career, that might be the trajectory the tale would take: The tortured genius willfully destroying his career so that he might rebirth himself from its flames. In reality, though, second chances are hard to come by in Hollywood, especially when so many of them have already been squandered.