Yes, The Sixth Sense had a twist ending, and if you saw it immediately then good for you, but most people didn’t as it raked in $293 million domestically and $672 million worldwide. However, the “twist” (more of a reveal) at the end of Unbreakable had no real bearing on the overall plot at that moment. There was no twist at the end of Signs, the twist in The Village was ruined by misleading marketing (although the “twist” was, admittedly, not a good one) and there was no twist at the end of Lady in the Water. So, we have two films that had legitimate twists. And this bothers people how? On top of that Unbreakable, Signs and The Village were not thrillers as they were billed to be. And neither was Lady in the Water for that matter, but I don’t think anyone made that mistake did they?
Unbreakable was a movie about an unlikely superhero. Signs was a film about a religious re-awakening. The Village was a love story. Just because they were billed as thrillers doesn’t mean you have to look at it that way. Examine a movie for what it is, not what you are told it should be, especially by marketing materials. If this were the case we would sit back and believe all the “taut thrill ride” quotes that the whores in the critical community hand out for recognition. However, you are smarter than that.
I have three Blu-rays right here. The Recruit has Larry King saying it’s “a taut tense thriller.” Next has Neil Rosen of NY1 News saying it’s “a clever, action-packed ride!” And P.S. I Love You has Bill Bregoli of Westwood One saying it’s “the best romantic comedy in a very long time.” Now, either Bill Bregoli is 10 months old and he evaluates “time” on a completely different time table than the rest of society, or I now know to never take anything he says into consideration because P.S. I Love You is awful.
The final argument against Night is that he is
I will say this. If my first studio film made $293 million at the box-office I would be pretty high on myself. If I followed that up with a film that made $95 million and has since become a cult classic I would probably be a little grounded, but still quite confident. If I then followed that up with a film that made $227 million, my ego would once again be sky high. Nothing could stop me.
If my following effort was marketed all wrong and was considered a disappointment at $114 million I would be shocked it did so well. Especially considering it was the first time the critics actually didn’t really like my movie. My ego? Still pretty lofty considering a failure for me is a $100+ million film.
