There are a lot of people out there who would rank Unbreakable as M. Night Shyamalan’s (AKA “The Shamhammer”) best movie. I am not one of those people as I thought the movie was just above “ok”. With that popularity coupled with the complete shambles his last number of movies have have fallen into, it’s not surprising the once popular director would look to go back to something that had success.
Our friends over at Latino Reviews talk about how Shamhammer is open to doing Unbreakable 2… but don’t count on it:
“I am,” said Shyamalan. “I don’t know where all the parties are in the world. Sam [Jackson] is like ‘Mr. Comic Book’ now. And Bruce, I don’t know what he’s up to. I don’t know where Disney’s at in their head and what kind of movies they’re up for making. But yeah, I love that movie.”
There are 3 problems here:
1) Both Willis and Jackson are both crazy busy, so pulling this together would be difficult. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY:
2) Shamhammer totally screwed his relationship with Disney when he basically mouthed them off and wrote a lot of bad shit about them after Disney dared tell him his script to “The Lady In The Water” wasn’t very good and that he needed to rework it. I just don’t see Disney wanting to work with him again. BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY:
3) We don’t care anymore. Shammy has lost it.
So would you be willing to give Shamhammer another shot if he did Unbreakable 2 or are you done with him after pissing in your face and telling you to like it with his last 3 movies?
I think the whole Shayamalan-bashing is unnecessary.
I will defend most of his movies to my last breath, because they had at least something that kept me interested and intrigued, with the exception of Signs (terrible movie). It’s not about twists for me. It’s about the subject matter.
Granted, The Happening wasn’t his best-written film, but it still kept me interested. If any of that happened to you, I think you’d sh** yourself in fear, and be the first ones to die.
LitW was one of his better films, because it was meant as a fairy tale, and thus I had no problem with suspension of disbelief.
I dislike how most people are bashing The Village. It was one of his best. I know people were expecting a horror movie when it is in fact a love story, no thanks to the way the trailer was edited, but Shayamalan had no control over that. As for the twist, I thought it was awesome, not thrilling. I wasn’t expecting thrills for that. I know his style by now.
Finally, I think doing a sequel to Unbreakable would be an interesting idea, but I liked where it ended. And as for the people who say that he has lost his touch, I say thee nay!
The only thing that’s wrong is that too many people today have ADD and can’t take anything that isn’t action-packed at a Michael Bay pace. They need their adrenaline to be pumped every millisecond, and I find that very sad.
Filmmaking should be about bringing people ideas and shaping minds to act responsibly in their day-to-day environment, to think for themselves and not watch the trash that Hollywood comes up with on a daily basis.
End rant!
This sequel is 7 years to late but I for one think Unbreakable was hist best film and that a trilogy would have been awesome.
Oh SNAP, Shammylam just got BURNED!
Love you John.
unbreakable was his best movie, i dont want him to fuck it up with a sequel. he’s lost it, you are right, john. i have not interest in anything he does.
Loved Unbreakable. Favorite movie of his and one of my all time favorite comic movies, just because it was such an original way of telling the story. Hated LITW and The Happening. That said, I would be all for Unbreakable 2. If it sucks, I won’t let it take away from my enjoyment of the original, and if it’s great, then great.
You know what? I have to kinda give the guy props for sticking to his guns. If his career is in the toilet then that’s because he put himself there.
I never was a big supporter of Sixth Sense (I actually liked David Keopp’s “Stir Of Echoes”, which had like themes) I mildly liked Unbreakable, but found that the story was flat. I liked Signs. Then there was Village, which was preposterous, Lady In The Water which I despised. I started to get into Happening, only to find the “rulebook” confusing and eventually, I gave up on the film.
As stated ^ ‘Unbreakable’ was meant as a possible series of films, but since Shaymalan wanted to make other films, and the actors got more films…it fell by the wayside. M.Night’s Mous House partnership, as noted, had come to a head with Lady In The Water. He blasted the studio for passing on the project.
The film flopped.
While I won’t rule out another, different film with Sam Jackson and Bruce Willis- long overdue for the next pairing- I also don’t think it will be Unbreakable II.
Likewise, as much as it pains me to write this, I think M.Night would be better off NOT revisiting past films but rather doing other films. I could see him crossing over into a film noir like genre for example, or doing a vampire-type film.
Listen.
I can’t join on the wagon train here 100%. I think Shyamalan still has some talent in him, I don’t think he’s a “terrible” writer-director at all. He just tends to overthink, or throw in a twist/surprise that either makes no sense whatsoever, (Signs, Village, Water) or isn’t that much of a shock (such as in Unbreakable, answering questions which the audience never asked)
So I’ll say it again. M Night has to re-invent a little or try other (related) genres. The Happening may have been stupid, but I’ll defend that scene where the kid gets randomly blown away by that shotgun by the recluse paranoid farmer any day. That scene I didn’t see coming. Did it make sense in the course of the film? No. But it was effective, and the only true scare of that film.
(Then again, as a friend pointed out to me last year, people going bonkers over a breeze hasn’t got much impact or shock value; a loud, bloody shotgun blast to the head at point blank range on the other hand…)
I liked his first four, yes I like the Village. I even went back to it the other day to see why people had a problem with it but I still didn’t see anything wrong with it (except for the fact you can only watch that movie once). Lady in the water seemed like a good idea, and there was a lot to it that I did like, however, if still fell short of the mark. When I saw it, I didn’t even no it was a Shammy movie and I remember thinking, “Well, it isn’t bad for a low budget indy film”.
The happening on the other hand was just BAD, I tried to look for good in it and the only thing I could come up with was the cinematography was pretty good but that was it. Instead I got a migraine trying to find rhyme or reason in the story of the movie because THERE WASN”T ANY!!!!
That said I think I would be willing to watch another Shamham movie but not a sequel, and not on opening night and only if it has gotten some good reviews, at least 65% on RT. I like his movies and what he tries to do, and unbreakable is by far my favorite. I could see how you could do a sequel with sixth sense, and with Signs but unbreakable ended. I also am usually against sequels for movies that did not have any plan or expectation to make sequels and unbreakable clearly was not meant for a sequel.
i think it was better than signs,which was ok
Whether or not you think Unbreakable was a great movie, you almost have to agree it was a great idea for a movie. It’s a grown-up superhero film without costumes (screw you Heroes!).
There was supposed to be a sequel (in fact, a trilogy, according to Willis) but it got canned.
Everyone knows the reason superhero sequels are usually better than the original (X-Men 2, The Dark Knight, and Spider-Man 2) is because they don’t have to devote half their running time to an origin story. Shyamalan, for some reason, decided to make Unbreakable nothing but an origin story, stretching that part across the entire running time and saving the actual awesome good vs. evil super-battle for the next film.
Unfortunately, not enough people went to see Unbreakable. The sequel idea got dropped and we may never get to see the actual good vs. evil fight.
I would love to see Unbreakable 2 if Shyamalan can get his act back together.
Well also Sham is working on “The Last Airbender” right now and that could easily turn into a trilogy.
Oh man thats right that screw up of a director is working on one of my fav cartoons.but unbreakable 2 doesn’t sound good at all.it should definitely be left alone.
I think Shamhammer needs to bury his head in the sand and wait about ten years before he attempts any more movies. Or he should try making some independent movies that can suck but people wont be pissed because it was hyped up to be a summer blockbuster. His last three movies were huge dissapoints with each one arguably worst than the last. All his movies seem to me like he writes a twist first and then writes around that instead of letting the story naturally develop to a logical conclusion. And Unbreakable does not need a sequel. I know John’s recent blog talked about te neccessities of sequels but Unbreakable ended with Sam Jackson coming clean and his arc was pretty much done with. Not just that but I dont think Willis’s character was that fascinating to deem a sequel.
Actually, i’m really looking forward to his Avatar The Last Airbender movie next summer. HE ran out of ideas for scripts, but he can still direct.
I think The Happening is the only spit in the face he’s given us.
I’d be interested purely in curiosity aspect of the film but I’m not sure how a film by SHAMAMALA would be made as a sequel. He loves his twists and turns (albeit not very good anymore) and I just think that he made two brilliant characters that really don’t need to be explored more.
best m knight movie imo.
i think unbreakable is flat out amazing.
i dont know about a sequel.
its just so perfect as it is.
i would definitely have to see it though.
I actually think it is his best movie as well, i only consider him to have made 2 movies anyways (the rest of his were terrible). Unbreakable could have a sequel but unless its really well written (like the first one was), i’d rather it stand alone. As for the lady in the water thing…if he couldnt see how awful the script was when everyone else told him, maybe he should start directing other people’s scripts and stop writing his own for a while. He has no style anyways, its around a twist, which is stupid over and over and over….
I like the guy. Enjoyed every movie he has done apart from the happening. He creates some very unique worlds that I can get in to. Unlike most, Lady In The Water was probably my favorite in its story weaving of a modern day fairytale. I’d be interested in seeing what he would do with a sequel to Unbreakable. The guy may be an asshole or make an ass of himself in one way or another, doesn’t mean he can’t continue bringing something new to the table that is entertaining. He will have to make a few more shitty movies before I lose interest.
I LOVE Unbreakable, but I don’t want a sequel. Shamhammer has lost his damn mind.
I agree John. I don’t think I’ll be lining up.
The sixth sense was awesome, Unbreakable was OK, but I found by Signs that he was just trying to recycle the same slow pacing he used in the other movies to generate suspense…he doesn’t tend to direct any other type or style of movie than moody thriller/drama with very slow pacing, to the point of being almost boring.
The stories have gotten progressively worse and he’s obviously suffering from George ‘I don’t want anyone elses opinion’ Lucas syndrome…
I really wish he still ‘had it’, but sadly I don’t. I don’t think going back to the well where he’s previously had success is necessarily the answer either, I think taking a crack at a new genre or not following the same old recipe might be the way to go.
I’d definitely see Unbreakable 2. Of course I am one of those who thinks Unbreakable is his best movie. I haven’t seen The Happening yet but I loved Lady in the Water and thought The Village was decent. I honestly don’t understand all the hate for LitW. Sure, his recent films haven’t been on the level of some of his earlier work but I also don’t think they are nearly as bad as a lot of people make them out to be. It seems like it has gotten to a point where it’s trendy to diss Shyamalan’s films and write him off as a hack or a has-been. Just my two cents though. Of course I realize everyone is entitled to their opinion.
It’s my number one, followed by Signs and then sixth sense and ending with lady. Never saw the village and the happening was good for what it was, but what it was for me was a waste of time, not entirely true, I did find it interesting, but it was not what I was expecting.
I don’t think that he lost it, everyone is entitled to make a mistake or two and though these are considered by many, to not be as good as his first couple of films, they are not the worst ones ever made. Who is to say when any writer or artist has finally lost it? maybe after they cut off an ear or put a shotgun under their head and pull the trigger. I will probably go and see his next movie no matter what it is, but I realy hope that it is unbreakable 2: shattered. Right? shouldn’t that be the title? maybe he should just write something and pass it along, or direct someone else’s stuff?
If you asked before Lady in the Water I would have been incredibly enthusiastic about an Unbreakable 2, I thought that the first was really good and that there was a lot of room for a sequel.
That said, “Lady” and “Happening” both sucked unbelievably hard. Does that mean Shyamalan has lost it… possibly, or maybe he was just going through a rough patch.
Directors have been able to recover from worse losing streaks, but I don’t think Shyamalan can do it by returning to the well, he really needs to move off this “feature length Twilight Zone episode” thing he’s been up to lately.
That said, I wouldn’t be too worried about his relationship with Disney, if they think they can make money off of an Unbreakable 2 they’ll get over that real fast.
I to am like MJS. Prior to Lady I had total confidence in shamalamadingdong… I loved his first three films and thought the fourth was a good effort that didn’t quite cut it. Lady and the happening were total crap.
I won’t see another one of his films UNLESS the reviews are outstanding. This guy lost his way in the same way van halen did when they hired the extreme guy.
Shamman may make so many sequels of these movies if he want. He is not the man , he is Shamman !!!!
Hey John, it sounds like you want anyone who disagrees with you to feel stupid and I quote: “or are you done with him after pissing in your face”.
I don’t really feel like that and I wouldn’t mind seeing another unbreakable movie. I actually liked it although noone seems to feel the same and I certanly don’t feel stupid for wanting it.
I don’t think that John is that way, but he did go through some serious criticism when he reviews Lady In The Water. He shut the comment section down in the review because people kept on complaining that John only gave a bad review due to how Shyamalan was acting before hand.
I’m not complete against a sequel, but I don’t think one is needed to be honest.
True dat
Hey Nicolas,
Pissig in our faces is exactly what I think he’s done for the last 3 movies he did. BUT… just because that’s my opinion doesn’t mean I don’t think you can have a different one. You shouldn’t take my dislike of his last few films as a personal remark against you.
I disagree…i have had many comments that were pg-13 just like saying “pissing in your face” and i have had them taken down….sure we can have negative comments but im 100% i have seen some taken down for reasons only you or rodney would know….thats just my 2 cents………but i have too say this guy tries to hard to make movies that people will be suprised with….only problem is who is gonna be suprised by a movie that is not bieng watched on the first showing, we have the internet and spoilers are hard to dodge these days….try sticking to the actually story and not the “WHAM. I DIDNT SEE THAT COMING ” moments
Lady in the water was okay, it was entertaining. The village-passed on it, Happening- I’m sorry what the hell was this? From what I heard of the village, it makes me wish that I watched that instead, and passed on the Happening.
I would love to see another chapter in unbreakable. it was a comic book based in the real world.
,the only thing is how would he develope it further without losing anything from the first, or turning it into a piece of crap.
I don’t really want to see a sequel, I liked Unbreakable a lot, but I don’t think a sequel is needed. Plus, if they do make one, I really don’t want there to be a twist at the end lol.