M. Night Shymalan's greatest film is Unbreakable and not The Sixth Sense. As more and more of the ongoing story (which M. Night did not just "luck out on" but planned via the long game over many years) has its day in the light, I am convinced that Mr. Shyamalan is a genius that just had a bunch of bad beats.
Take for example these points:
1) The Horde character from Split fits perfectly within the Unbreakable universe, not only because (like Mr. Glass) he's the ultimate progression of what happens when you take something to the extreme, but because Elijah's mother in Unbreakable said, "There are two villains typically; one that fights the hero physically (the Horde), and the archenemy who fights the hero with his mind (Mr. Glass).
2) Kevin (the Horde) is actually in the movie Split as a brief cameo/Easter Egg when Bruce Willis goes to the stadium. He brushes up against a mom leading her child away, and he realizes that the kid is being beaten by his mom and that his dad was killed in the same train wreck that he survived due to his super powers. So Kevin was created by Mr. Glass in the same way that Bruce Willis's character was created. Furthermore, in that scene, Bruce Willis stares at the boy so (in fact) they've met before and I bet this will be shown in Mr. Glass when it comes out.
I don't know about you, but it actually feels good to be excited about an M. Night Shyamalan movie again.
Hated Unbreakable and never watched Split.
ReplyDeleteI thought he was brilliant back then (when Unbreakable came out). I haven't seen Split. I won't. It looks too much like something that'll traumatize me (so if you want to give a run down on the plot...). I'm kind of interested in seeing Mr. Glass, though.
ReplyDeleteI liked Unbreakable but didn't find it amazing as I've seen repeated in many geek culture articles. I found it slow moving and frustrating for most of the movie. I did love the scene with his son near the end but never felt the final surprise was earned. Maybe was just too dumb to notice the hints.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only person that liked the Village? As I recall, critics hated it but I loved the concept.
Mr. Glass sounds like it will interest me, but sorry to tell you that I wasn't nuts about Unbreakable but loved The Sixth Sense.
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