This weekend saw the release of M. Night Shyamalan’s new film, Knock Of The Cabin. With that, this beloved/despised director now has 14 films in his massive filmography. Regardless of what you can say about the man as a director, you can’t deny there is no other man in Hollywood quite like him. The man is basically his own unique beast of a filmmaker, now allowing himself to spend the quarter of his yearly salary to finance his own personal projects that give him permission to play in his own sandbox in front of the camera for the whole world to see. Whether the movie is good or bad, you always know you are watching an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Even if he is someone that everyone is aware of his tropes and reputation, something which even Shyamalan himself seems to be WAY too aware of nowadays, his movies are always so fascinating to watch and talk about because of it.
With that, let’s take a look back at every single one of his directed films and rank them from worst to best. Time to take this quality-like trip down memory lane!
14.) The Last Airbender
One of the most hated films ever to be released in cinema is absolutely deserving of all the scorn it gets! Despite trying so hard to be as faithful to a t to the beloved Nickelodeon animated series as possible, it ends up sucking out all the fun, joy, heart, and spirit that the show ever had.
With the way the film plays out with trying to squeeze the plot of an entire season of a tv show into an hour and 45 minute film, it was basically doomed from the start. However, when you added in actors who are massively miscast in their roles (And that’s not strictly because of the producer’s obsession to casting literally the whitest actors possible for these roles), replace the banter and character development with non-stop exposition, and effects that look more appropriate for a fan film rather than one spend a million dollars on, you have one truly awful and underwhelming picture. Not to mention, they couldn’t even be bothered to get the names of some of the characters right (It’s “Aang!” Not “Aung!”).
Admittedly, it’s hard to blame strictly Shyamalan for this train wreck because it’s clear that not every single choice made in this film was his as there was plenty of obvious studio meddling that plagued this mess. Even so, I don’t there there has been a film that has sunk M. Night’s reputation quite like this. It sunk it so hard that he might never, ever get it back again.
13.) Lady In The Water
Now, here’s a movie you can 100% fault Shyamalan for as it’s clear that his fingerprints are all over this abomination. And that’s not even going into the scene near the end where M. Night basically plays a self-insert version of himself and proclaims he’s gonna save the world from evil critics who dared to criticize The Village.
While there’s at least a tiny more creativity put into the world building and certain elements than The Last Airbender, almost none of it is put to good use. You have a great, recognizable cast that turn in some absolutely terrible performances, the plot and logic is basically non-existent and falls apart once you think about it for a split second, and how in the world can you make a movie about magic mermaids and such so unbelievably boring.
Even if you are someone that didn’t hate The Village or M. Night prior movies before this one and even take pride at taking shots at professional film critics, this film is just way too smug, ego-filled, and pretentious for you to get behind. This is arguably the first official dud that Shyamalan had ever put out that pretty much everyone agrees was a disaster!
12.) After Earth
Yet another incredibly silly but also somehow overly serious sci-fi journey that somehow manages to walk a fine line between unintentionally entertaining but also somehow painfully dull at the same time. To quote Honest Trailers, this was perhaps Will Smith’s biggest mistake since turning down The Matrix (at least until his infamous Oscar slap would shock the world).
Despite technically being an original sci-fi story, there is hardly any new actual elements to it. It has the exact same sort of characters and tropes you’ve seen a million times before and seen done a million times better in other things. The chemistry that Will Smith had with his son Jaden in The Pursuit Of Happiness is no where to be found here, which makes you shocked that these two are even related in real life. And I’m fairly certain if you told me the script did not receive a single re-write and was turned in after just one draft, I would certainly believe you.
This admittedly could have worked if it just stuck to it’s original premise and not feel the need to add in a bunch of other ridiculous elements but it pretty much falls flat in every way it possibly could. If The Last Airbender didn’t make you lose complete faith in Shyamalan, then After Earth might have finished the job for you.
11.) Glass
M. Night was making somewhat of a comeback before this one came out. His last two films were fairly well received and just one more after that could have potentially brought back on the map as a director we can all take seriously again. Oh…..what could’ve been!
2019 was a year filled with underwhelming endings to well-known franchises minus the big one with superheroes and this was no exception. It’s baffling how Glass takes a potentially exciting cross-over/finale and manages to turn it into a completely pointless slog that undermines everything that came before. With too much time spend in the hospital hearing the same, repetitive talking scenes over and over again about how these superpower folks aren’t really that super, an incredibly disjointed narrative, and a resolution that makes the main bad guys look like the dumbest idiots ever, you could not have made a more disappointing finale if you tried.
Sure, it’s well-shot, James McAvoy is still as awesome as ever in the role, and I’m sure there are folks who gave it bonus points for it’s so-called “bold” choices it makes towards the third act but very little actually works from a storytelling or character perspective. It’s baffling how just about the commentary and deconstruction elements that worked so well in Unbreakable just does not work here whatsoever.
10.) The Happening
I’m not gonna lie, if I was rating this in terms of entertainment value, this would probably be much higher on the list. This is hands down one of the most entertainingly bad movies ever made. From the direction to the acting to the dialogue to the script, there is so much for you to be entertained by and laugh at how ridiculous this is that it’s hard not to recommend it because of that. From an objective standpoint, however, it’s still really darn bad.
The premise is actually quite a solid one for a supposed B movie. The problem is that Shyamalan takes the material so seriously that it can’t be judge strictly for being an over-the-top schlock movie because it’s clearly trying to be something more than that. It actually thinks it’s telling a deep, dark story about death, suicide, and brutality that is going for the Oscar. But because the dialogue is so terribly written, none of the characters act like human beings, and the actors act like they are in a complete different movie than the one they are actually in, it’s impossible to take anything seriously because nothing feels real or genuine.
At this point, M. Night was not only starting to lose his pride but was becoming an unintentional parody of himself. Watching The Happening is like the equivalent of watching a deadly car crash, it’s awful and terrible to see but your eyes are glued to the accident the entire way through and you just can’t help to not look away.
9) Wide Awake
Believe it or not, The Sixth Sense was actually not the first film in M. Night’s filmography. That was actually whatever the hell this is that made it’s way into cinema in 1998. And tbh, even with it’s absurdly twist ending, you would be hard pressed to find out that Shyamalan actually directed this movie.
There is some occasional wit and charm to it along with a couple of touching moments but much of Wide Awake screams “first time director” and not in a good way. The whole experience feels too hollow and all over the place to be engaging all the way through with not having a clear idea as to who the movie was aimed for. Also, despite what the poster of the movie would indicate, baseball has very little to do in this movie and the two characters that appear on there have hardly any screen time together.
Releasing just one year before The Sixth Sense, this has that sense of a movie being solely made solely for M. Night to get his foot through the door and so he could go onto making a movie he would much prefer to make. Not a lot of people remember this as it’s first film and it’s probably for the best that it stays that way.
8.) Knock At The Cabin
The newest feature film from Shyamalan is well shot and has a handle of good performances, with the main stand-out being Dave Bautista, that helps make it watchable but unfortunately fails to be engaging or interesting because how tame the whole experience is. Almost as if M. Night is beginning to run out of ideas.
That’s not even going into how rather homophobic the movie is given it never tries to offer a satisfying resolution to the main queer couple, twists that are so obvious I’m not even sure you could actually call it twists, and even the actual “world ending” stakes presented feel about as inconsequential as that of a mission in a Grand Theft Auto game. By the time we get to the bleak and unceremonious end, you just wonder what exactly the movie itself is trying to accomplish other than with the message of how the Old Testament is right in that the world would be better off without gay people.
I don’t think there’s a M. Night Shyamalan movie that left me shrugging my shoulders than this one. Even the negative points aren’t ones that are worth thinking to deeply into because the movie itself doesn’t even try to do so. It just lacks it’s own value and substance which makes it’s brief runtime feel longer than it really is and it lays out a big surface that it doesn’t even bother to scratch. It’s as if M Night has finally met his match, being unable to shock the world any longer. In that case, then Knock At The Cabin does at least make for a rather unique metaphor of it’s own, even if it’s a tame one.
7.) Old
Here’s one that manages to display the very best and very worst of M. Night Shyamalan. When Old is playing around with it’s own “time flies” premise and does bizarre, interesting things with it, it’s an absolute blast of schlock value. When it actually tries to be deep and throw as many thought provoking messages into the mix as it can, that’s where it falters.
The craftsmanship is great, it movies at a good pace, it contains some of the most unique imagery and sequences in any Shyamalan movie, and is among the few times where letting M. Night without some sort of restraint is actually for the better. It even does a good job of showcasing just how fast life can go and why you should live it to your fullest potential. Just too bad M. Night just can’t seem to get out of his own damn way by feeling the need to be deeper and more complex than it should be along with including a third act twist just because that’s an absolute staple to his filmography at this point.
I can’t say this movie isn’t entertaining or even engaging at times but I also can’t say it completely worked because of how back and forth it is with what goal it wants to achieves and the ways it actually wants to achieve it. Old containing both the highest of the high and the lowest of the low of M Night’s filmography, which make it sit comfortably right in the middle of quality in this ranking.
6.) The Village
This is probably the only “bad” M. Night Shyamalan movie that I find myself defending. After hitting three home runs in a row with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, expectations were high that the great M. Night would be able to hit a grand slam like he’s Babe Ruth with his next trip up to the plate. Instead, this is more like a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded when you are still down by multiple runs in a game. You technically got the job done there to keep your team in the game but you were expecting to at least get a bases clearing extra base hit, if not a grand slam.
That’s not to say The Village is anywhere close to perfect. It’s way too slow for it’s own good, too hamfisted in it’s political themes, and the final twist doesn’t feel anywhere near as earned as it did in his last three movies. However, it also has intriguing world building, actors that fit quite well in their roles, and Roger Deakins proving once again why he’s a top-tier cinematographer. Also, unlike with most his later work, you don’t really get that sense of smugness here and actually feels like it’s something for anyone to get something out of.
While it’s a shame that The Village couldn’t make for the perfect quadrilogy for M. Night, it still not an absolute failure over all. It’s an intriguing film that has plenty of redeemable qualities even if it is frustrating that it can’t quite reach greatness. I get the feeling has this movie came out at any other different time than they did, people would be much nicer to it.
5.) The Visit
At the time this movie came out, it was instantly held as a return to form for M. Night Shyamalan. A reason to hope for the man who practically invented spoiler alerts would be able to return to form after so many failures over the past decade plus. Are these people right? Well, yes and no.
It’s definitely refreshing to see M. Night go back to smaller scale and low budget flicks after a handful of terrible blockbusters he directed. Most of the tropes that has become accustom to actually works quite well here, there’s a handful of story elements that get satisfying if not disgusting payoffs, and even the twist, while obvious, makes sense and helps to add tension during your initial and on repeat viewings with how the kids are going to deal with their supposed grandparents. Where the movie doesn’t work is when it goes too far with it’s black comedy or tries too hard with jump scares that don’t go anywhere. And I can’t stand the rapping…..at all.
It doesn’t completely work but The Visit does at least do a good job at foreshadowing the direction that M. Night would be taking with his future films and how it was start of a new era for him. While more missteps was sure to come, it was nice to see himself get another leash on life by reinventing himself as a filmmaker with this mildly entertaining flick.
4.) Split
While The Visit was hailed as one of M. Night’s better films in recent memory, it still had enough detractors to still consider it not good enough. With Split, however, even the detractor had to give credit where it was due. This movie felt like the Shyamalan of old was resurrected and returned to the big screen to show everyone how it is done.
This is an absolutely intriguing and intense thriller filled with great set-ups, satisfying payoffs, and stellar execution all around. James McAvoy is an absolute scene stealer, being able to perfectly portray every single personality of every single version of himself he is suppose to portray. Anya Taylor-Joy is also able to make for the right companion piece of being a shy girl with little to no emotion going up against a derange kidnapper with plenty of emotion. Even if you are able to guess the twist at the very end, this is still able to stand strongly as it’s own thing. The first act is quite choppy and it’s a shame that we don’t get to every single personality from Kevin but none of that can take away how surprisingly enjoyable the whole experience is.
Split feels like the last missing piece to the perfect puzzle that was the quad trilogy of M. Night Shyamalan in his prime. It might have took nearly 15 years to get it but it is satisfying all the same. Even if the follow-up to this was very underwhelming, this still remains for a wonderful fluke and a sign that perhaps the old M. Night Shyamalan we all knew and love is still in there somewhere.
3.) Signs
The finale of the original trilogy of bangers of M. Night’s early career does fall into the trappings of the third movies being the weakest of the bunch. It’s not quite as tight or as uniquely different as the other two movies that came before this one. That being said, much like other certain third installments that are technically the worst of their respective trilogy (*cough* Return of the Jedi), it’s still pretty darn good and satisfying enough in it’s own right.
Signs is able to balance between being an alien invasion flick and an engaging family drama quite well. It contains the proper amount of tension, suspense, and even scares with the supernatural stuff and even some natural conflicts that the characters go through which dives deep into moments of psychological, human-driven society. Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix also fit the roles very well as does the child talent of Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin. There is perhaps a bit too many themes the movie tries to tackle at once and has a final shot that feels unnecessary but it all mostly works out well.
As much as it’s not M. Night’s best movie, it’s probably the most heartfelt movie he has ever made. One which all the genuine emotion feels earned and plays out the way it was suppose to be. It knows how to make one feel in way that I don’t think even Shyamalan imagined. That in of itself makes Signs impressive in it’s own right.
2.) The Sixth Sense
If it weren’t for the fact that Wide Awake existed, this would make a strong case for being one of the best director debuts of all time. Imagine being a C-average student in your freshman year of high school only to being an A-average student the very next year as a sophomore. There’s not many directors out there that can say that but with The Sixth Sense, it’s hard to deny that M. Night was able to acheive exactly that.
This feels like a movie that only M. Night Shyamalan himself could have made as it knows exactly what he does expertly with no BS thrown in between any of it. It’s extremely well made, the narrative is engaging, the performances are top notch, it’s able to explore it’s subject matter involving psychology incredible well, and every scare is legit frightening regardless of if you know it’s coming or not. Even the twist ending, which would unfortunately make M. Night the child poster of that storytelling trope, works wonder and allows for different viewing experiences every time you watch it.
The Sixth Sense is able to bring out the very best of M. Night Shyamalan while also leaving the anything resembling the worst of him. It’s able to use the tropes it introduces without ever derailing any fraction of the film. While it’s not quite my absolute favorite of it as it ranks in the #2 spot, it would be hard to argue with anyone that has it at the very top.
1.) Unbreakable
This is where M. Night Shyamalan has hit home the best for me and what I believe is to be his absolute masterpiece. As much as their are handful of superhero films that try to “deconstruct” the genre to try to make an absolutely loaded genre feel fresh, very few are able to hit the mark of that matter with the way Unbreakable does.
It’s able to take the tropes that is most common for superhero movies and comic book stories and cleverly subverts them in ways that make the experience even better. Instead of being action heavy with cheesy one-liners and campy villains, it’s able to showcase what superheroes and supervillains could look like in a real word with a dark and sobering tone that fits perfectly for the movie. Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson are perfect in their roles as David Dunn and Mr. Glass, the main superhero and supervillain of the picture. The conflict between the two and the duality that they played off of each other is among the best I’ve seen in any superhero film. It shows that there is a more to a hero and villain story than simple fistfights and power-filled matchups, but it’s also about having an interesting internal conflict between two figures from a psychological and thematic standpoint that matter too. Some do it better than others but not in he way that Unbreakable masterfully showcases this.
Even in an age of where comic book movies have took the world by storm, Unbreakable is a movie that feels like it could have came out at any time and it would still feel fresh, different, and unique all the same. It’s one of the few times where a M. Night Shyamalan is exactly as smart, if not more so, that it believes it is. Because of that reason and many more, Unbreakable is hands down my favorite movie of M. Night Shyamalan and one of my personal favorite movies in general.
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