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If you harbored hopes, no matter how unrealistic, no matter how unfounded, that M. Night Shyamalan, for the first time working from a source other than an original screenplay, would make a quality film, then your hopes were unfortunately misplaced. His latest, possibly last film, The Last Airbender](The Last Airbender (2010) - Movie | Moviefone) fails without reservation or qualification in every conceivable category: story, characters, dialogue, and performances. Only the visual effects (thanks Industrial Light & Magic) save *The Last Airbender *from being completely unwatchable, but even there, the post-production 3D conversion makes The Last Airbender look dim, very much like M. Night Shyamalan’s career prospects after this debacle.
The overwhelming commercial and critical success of The Sixth Sense](http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-sixth-sense/6412/main) (1999), a supernatural thriller and Shyamalan’s third film, gave him the freedom to write and direct without studio interference. Although I wasn’t a big fan of The Sixth Sense and its derivative, Twilight Zone-inspired twist ending (i.e., the central character has been a ghost all along), I could (and did) appreciate why it resonated with so many moviegoers. It wasn’t the twist per se or even Malcolm Crowe’s (Bruce Willis) personal journey toward self-realization and self-awareness, but instead, the possibility, no matter how unlikely or improbably, of contact with those who’ve passed on, of closure to key relationships in our lives.
Continue reading M. Night Shyamalan: The End is Near (for His Career)