I really disliked Unbreakable when I initially saw it. But it was one of those movies that I couldn't stop thinking about, and I came to the realization that there was a lot more going on than I gave it credit for. I think I got suckered into disliking it because it was slow, but then I remembered all the other slow movies that I like, and other things got me to thinking about some of the symbology he used, etc. Plus: superheroes!

Signs and The Village were okay. I really disliked Signs when it came out because I believed the theme I'm expressing above was unintentional and undercut what the theme of the movie was. Now that I see that that may not be the case, I may have to rewatch it. However, I was well into not particularly enjoying the film by the time the parts of it happened that cemented my opinion. I haven't changed my opinion of The Village. It's important to note, though, that this critique is based largely on the scripts. Shyamalan is an excellent director visually, and he seems to direct actors well, too. I just think that his scripts can be a little shallow, almost like they're just tissue that are used to hold his cinematic vision. I'd very much like to see him direct something by a solid screenwriter. Of course, as I say that, there's much more depth to his scripts that I'm calling shallow than those of the vast majority of movies released these days. I guess it's the disconnect between the remarkable depth of his visuals and the only somewhat deep scripts.