There were two recent stories floating across Movie-News outlets that I wanted to focus on this week and hopefully drum up some conversation and thoughts on the topic of collaboration.

Film is a collaborative process, through and through. You might be the type to point directly to Hitchcock, Truffaut, or even Scorsese and Antonioni, and talk until you’re blue in the face about the Auteur Theory and what it means to be a filmmaker. Well, it’s true that the writer/director maintains a good amount of creative control, some of the time, when it comes to the finished product. But that dude can’t hold a camera, clap the slate, roll sound, and act in the film all at the same time. It just cannot physically be done. Once you bring in that second entity, whether it’s a sound dude with a boom mic, or a girl who can load a mag in record timing, you’re film has become a collaboration.

I’ve talked before about famous pairings throughout film history (Steven Spielberg and John Williams, for one) but the two recent articles have to do with fresh pairings in the name of creative rebirth.

The first actually addresses the auteur theory, as this director has been associated with the premise since his movie The Sixth Sense skyrocketed him to fame over a decade ago. I’m talking about M. Night Shyamalan and today’s announcement that he’ll be collaborating with Will Smith and Jaden Smith on an upcoming Sci-Fi flm. Shyamalan co-wrote the script with Gary Whitta (Book of Eli) and at first Will Smith was only on-board as producer. Until recently.

What developments occurred to convince Smith to star alongside his son? No one knows, but the best guess involves a special deal giving Smith final cut over Shyamalan. Given the performance of Last Airbender and most of the director’s latest films, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if this power setup drew Smith in front of the camera. Then again, M. Night does tend to craft an attractive image and visual style (when not adapting Airbender tales), and his clout with such talents as Bruce Willis, Paul Giamatti, Mark Wahlberg, and Mel Gibson prove that he’s got quite a way with bigger names, making them all look somewhat great on-screen.

Here’s hoping the writing contributions of Whitta can outweigh any undesirable aspects of the story. But the bigger question out of all of this is the effect the movie’s performance will have on the Smith family’s career. Jaden is only just getting started, but his first two bigger pictures (The Pursuit of Happyness and The Karate Kid) nabbed hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, and he’s got the confidence his father gained when his was three times the kid’s age. And Will has only really starred in blockbuster successes, currently in the middle of filming Men in Black III. He’s not hurting for cash, and I would bet that, should the next Shyamalan opus totally bomb, Will would land on his feet and hit the ground running. I mean, look what happened to Mel Gibson after Signs…

The second piece of collaborative news to hit the Nets today is that Shane Black will only be directing Iron Man 3. The script will be penned by Drew Pearce, best known for creating the British TV Series No Heroics. In that series, superheroes meet in a bar where no uniforms or powers are allowed. Pearce has also apparently turned in a script for the adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s brilliant Runaways comic series, so he apparently has a grasp on the superheroes with snarky attitudes genre.

Still, is having a separate writer a good or bad omen for Shane Black’s involvement in the series? Here’s a guy who was known for his writing in the late 80s and 90s, virtually rebooting action films as we know them with Lethal Weapon, and even redefining Robert Downey, Jr.’s career with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. But take the writer out of the creator equation, and what do we have? Could be good (remember The Wrestler? Didn’t need Aronofsky’s original hand for that to succeed…) could be terrible. Either way, what Iron Man needs, more than any other comic book movie, is a creative overhaul on the filmmaking side. They’re not trying to rush it out before the Avengers movie, so that could work in its’ favor actually. Iron Man 2 was hindered by the lack of a script and an agenda by Marvel execs that was not made clear to Favreau until immediately before filming began. By giving part 3 over to someone like Shane Black, who’s style is a better fit for RDJ, the world of Iron Man changes a few varying degrees and becomes a larger part of the action genre, which is where it belongs.

Thoughts? Difficulties with either of the above scenarios?

You are dismissed!

Sgt. Angle

The Sixth Sense (1999)

Bruce Willis can do no wrong, that’s just science.  In 1998 the man, the myth, the legend starred in Armageddon, saving our planet from a gigantic asteroid with the help of Michael Bay.  Then, in 2000, he played a role in Matthew Perry’s only non-Friends funny-comedy, The Whole Nine Yards (though the “funny” part is debateable).  But in between those two movies, Mr. Willis participated in a succesful hiccup of a film called The Sixth Sense.

Willis plays a dead detective helping a young kid deal with the fact that he can see dead people.  The film owes much of its success to the “twist” ending: Willis was dead the whole time!  Damn!  And after you knew that little piece, the movie sucked fat ass, but not in a good way.  Re-watching this film is like having sex with the same prostitute two times: less exciting and just plain silly, since you could spend your money on something different again and again.  The moody piece was a one trick pony, though it was a steed Mr. Shyamalan would ride for years to come…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Unbreakable (2000)

This will forever be, in my opinion, Night’s masterpiece.  In Unbreakable, Shyamalan sticks with Willis for yet another romp, only this time he adds the Nick Fury to the mix — Mr. Samuel “F*cking” Jackson.  Willis and Jackson had played off each other with amicable flair five years earlier in Die hard with a Vengeance, so the hype train rolled on not only The Sixth Sense tracks, but with fumes of buddy-anticipation as well.  Neither actor failed to deliver.

Willis plays a man who cannot be physically hurt — at all, while Jackson portrays an art dealer who is practically made of glass.  After Willis is the only one to survive a train wreck, Jackson’s character seeks him out and tries to convince him that he is a real, living, breathing hero — like the ones in comic books.  Willis is reluctant to believe in “powers” but the greater truth is that he’s afraid to believe in himself — a story Shyamalan unravels with a particular grace.  In the end, we learn that Jackson’s character was right, but more than that, he’s positioned himself to play the villain, revealing that is was he who caused the train wreck in the first place, as well as countless other catastrophes to find his “hero.”

Unbreakable is a dark journey of self-discovery written and directed by someone who not only pays homage to comics, but the mythos they represent.  It’s truly and utterly brilliant.

And that’s when M Night Shyamalan should’ve stopped making movies…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Signs (2002)

Mel Gibson joined Shyamalan in this romp about a preacher who deals with aliens taking over the world.  The aliens are afraid of water and the preacher lost his wife to a drunk driver.  Flashbacks continually reveal bit by bit of his wife’s demise while the world is invaded by aliens THAT WE NEVER ACTUALLY GET TO SEE UNTIL THE END.

Signs is a test in patience — do you care enough about the story, the characters, or the plot, to sit in your seat for an hour and a half waiting for the aliens to show up?  Ultimately, most people said no.

What would’ve made this better?  More aliens.  More destruction.  Less egotistical film making.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Village (2004)

After Signs’ anti-climactic ending started to assuage the sizzle on Shyamalan’s career, M decided to try the whole scary/twist thing again with, The Village.  The general plot revolves around a small village, apparently set in the colonial days of America, who are tormented and devoured by a beast in the woods.  The elders of the village have a secret and Brody plays a retard.  The big twist?  It’s set in now.  A blind villager makes it out of the village, over a wall where security meets her and escorts her away in a golf cart.

Yeah.  Seriously.

It was at this point in Shyamalan’s career the effects of Hollywood became evident.  His biggest successes and the phrase synonymous with his name were twist-endings.  Signs didn’t have that and apparently Shyamalan was incapable or writing anything sans gimmick.  The film played weak and desperate.  Bleh.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lady in the Water (2006)

Let’s keep this breif: Shyamalan wrote/directed this flaming piece of shit, which was rejected by Disney, picked up by Warner Brothers and panned by critics upon it’s release.  The Story is about a girl named Story, saving Shyamalan (acting) who is going to write a book that will inspire folk.  Giamatti plays a guy who gets sucked into saving Story (but not the actual story) from a lupine beast that looks like grass.

Less thinking Mr. Shyamlan; you’re either the smartest man in the world or, at this point, the most convoluted egomaniac since Hitler — but with more film and less hatred.

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The Happening (2008)

You know what kinds of films were cool to make in the aughts?  Green ones.  Save the planet!  Humans are wicked!  Have sex with goats!  Well, Shyamalan wasn’t immune from the green-hype and made this god-awful mess about trees fighting back.  Unfrotunately John Leguizamo was sucked in as well.  Though as the actors go, I will say this: Getting Wahlberg to play the lead in a story where the antagonist doesn’t move is, in a queer way, appropriate.

The plants get mad at humans and release chemicals that make us kill ourselves.  Until the end, when they’ve thinned us out enough to stop releasing said toxin.  The film’s reception was similar to the plot: audience members wanted to kill themselves and eventually, the ticket sales thinned enough for the film to stop playing.  It really was that bad.

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The Last Airbender (2010)

Enter The Last Airbender.  I know fans of the original are excited.  Fine.  Be excited, but be wary.  I don’t know if it will be good or bad the same way I wonder if my shits will stink — up to now they all have, but maybe this one will be different…

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Until next time,

Mr. Wolff