[vidarh]

It was ruined for me because we arrived just as it was about to start, were pointed to the wrong screen, and ended up walking in to a viewing in progress just in time to see enough to make the twist obvious...

As much as I've enjoyed many of Shyamalan's movies, the big problem with them is how much hinges on the twist. To this day I feel very little interest in rewatching them because of that.

[at_a_remove]

It isn't only the twist, though, it's the timing of the twist. Plenty of movies with that kind of twist are re-watchable, but you have to put that twist about ... two-thirds, three-fifths of the way through. The rest of the film is devoted to the protagonist exploring the consequences of realizing that one of their big axioms was wrong. Shyamalan's timing puts the twist at the end, the characters don't really get to react, etc.

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

I swear I know this twist from a short story in an English textbook I read in school. Seemingly set in the mid-19th century, a pair of young teens, maybe a group of three, were in the process of exploring outside their village (I think with the intention of leaving for good) -- knowing it’s not allowed by village authorities -- when they walked onto a modern paved road and saw the headlights from a vehicle and didn’t know what they were looking at.

I never watched the movie but from all the conversations I’ve heard about it, it sounds like that’s the twist. This 19th-century village is just a probably slightly cult-y hideaway for some people in modern times. Is that right?

[vidarh]

Variations on the this has been done many times, so I wouldn't be surprised. E.g the broader "protagonist lives in a bubble" theme includes The Truman Show, or Brian Aldiss' novel "Nonstop".

As someone else pointed out part of the problem w/how Shyamalan handles it is that too much hinges on the twist in some of his movies.

[zeroonetwothree]

It’s always been the twist.

[dylan604]

> the big problem with them is how much hinges on the twist

I feel similar but different to JJ Abrams' Cloverfield universe. Cloverfield Lane and Cloverfield Paradox are just 2 movies where he attaches a random scene at the end to tie them into the Cloverfield universe. Those scenes have nothing to do with the movie, and if left off would not negatively affect the movie itself.

[mike_d]

> Cloverfield Lane and Cloverfield Paradox are just 2 movies where he attaches a random scene at the end to tie them into the Cloverfield universe

That is exactly what it is supposed to be. Think of it like The Twilight Zone, every story is different but they all exist in a world that is distinct and unnatural.

I think JJ Abrams finally came up with a good way of explaining it to people: "It’s like Cloverfield is the amusement park, and each of these movies is a different ride in that park."

[plasma_beam]

Your critique is totally spot on. I can’t stomach Shyamalan’s current movies. Oddly though despite the cheap plot twist and how much it got made fun of in the media at the time, I love The Sixth Sense. I still watch it to this day. The scene where Cole sees the dead biker and tells his mom they’re standing outside the car window? Goosebumps every time.

[codeulike]

I cant find the source right now but when Shyamalan wrote the Sixth Sense, it was a complete script on about the fifth draft before he even _thought_ of the twist. And I think thats why its such a great movie. Its like a twist that gives you a whole new movie on top of the perfectly good one you've already seen. And the twist is not just a gimmick, it has emotional depth.

edit: I first saw the sixth sense in perfect conditions - a pirated VCD from Malaysia before any publicity for it had happened in the UK, so had no idea what I was getting myself into other than it had Bruce Willis in it. Absolutely blew me away.

edit: found the source:

According to an interview in Scenario magazine (Volume 5, Number 4), Shyamalan had written five drafts of the screenplay before an idea came to him that transformed it into something totally new, leading to a landmark film with powerful performances from the film’s stars. It happened in the sixth draft.

https://www.stevendeeble.com/2016/05/31/evolution-of-a-scree...

[vidarh]

I think you're right that The Sixth Sense is worth rewatching more so than his later ones.