M. Night Shyamalan is one of my favourite thriller movie directors/screenwriters. He has built a brand name that only a few were able to do in the film industry and he did it at an effortless pace. People actually wait lined-up and have respect for his films. He has started a genre in which the “twist-at-the-end” is king. Although I’m not sure what he was thinking when he decided to go out of his game with “The Last Airbender”? What’s important though is that he’s finally back with what he is known for – his supernatural stories with a shocking twist. “Devil” intrigues us better than any other film he had since “Signs” and “The Sixth Sense”. Can M. Night pull it off again and could this movie be as great or be even better than his previous works? Read on to find out what I think.
The Plot Thickens
A worker commits suicide by jumping from a building. As policemen investigate on what has happened, five strangers step onto an elevator located in the same building. The five strangers are Ben, a temporary security guard with a violent past, Vince, a mattress salesman who’s a scam artist, Jane, an elderly woman who’s actually a thief, Sarah, a gold-digging heiress and finally Tony, who served in Afghanistan. All five have dark pasts, all have been brought together to get trapped on the elevator. As strange things begin happening, it becomes clear that the devil is one of them. The question now is, who?
M. Night: The Return
“Devil” signifies what M. Night has missed as a screenplay writer for too long now. I’m very enthusiastic that he’s finally back up from the pit. First, “Devil” has a story and setting that is simple and yet it is so effective in bringing the thrills and chills. The claustrophobic nature of the elevator exaggerates this point, and the blinking elevator lights as well. Each time the lights go off, something wrong happens and the anticipation just builds up to a greater extent. This a sample of a classic Shyamalan where the twist was not forced. Everything actually feels believable and natural and it all falls into place with little or no effort at all. The ending will surely surprise you and provide more (in our case, a moral lesson to boot). None of his films could probably surpass the brilliance of Sixth Sense but nonetheless, we love this movie. “Devil” is the first film in a trilogy dubbed as “The Night Chronicles”. Given how this film has performed, I can’t wait to see the other two films already.
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