M. Night Shyamalan's career has seen some of the most aggressive highs and lows of any filmmaker in history. Beginning his career with a six-time Oscar nominee and the second highest-grossing movie of the year, things looked as bright for Shyamalan as they did for Spielberg when Jaws was released. Following up The Sixth Sense with two other hits, both critically and commercially, he was pretty much guaranteed a spot in film history, with Roger Ebert calling him a "born filmmaker."
Of course, everyone knows what happened next. Shyamalan released a string of critical failures, his box office magic waned, and he became known more as a cautionary tale than as the man who created one of the best horror films of all time. In recent years, his fortune has turned, however, and he managed to recapture his original spark somewhat with The Visit and, to a much greater extent, Split. With his upcoming movie Old, Shyamalan has the opportunity to permanently turn the tide in his favor, assuming he doesn't fall back on old habits.
No Twist Ending
At this point, the most cliche criticism of the filmmaker would be complaining about his insistence on the use of twist endings. Perhaps creating one of the most memorable twist endings of all time with The Sixth Sense left him determined to outdo himself, to middling results.
While the inclusion of a twist ending wouldn't be a killer, audiences and critics simply don't want another film created solely around a twist ending, like The Village. Sometimes it's alright to dazzle the audience with what's already been established in a story and not rip the rug out from underneath them just because it's easy to do.
Realistic Dialogue
One of the most glaring fundamental issues that critics began to notice with Shyamalan's work was his oftentimes wooden and strangely quirky dialogue. What at first seemed like clever and understated writing choices began to look like someone who didn't know how people actually speak.
There's no better example than in The Happening, where, through a mix of bad dialogue and confusing direction, it's nearly impossible to tell if each character's lines are supposed to be for dramatic or comedic effect, even if it was intentional.
Focused Script
A major issue with his recent work has been what appears to be an unfocused and cluttered narrative, miles away from the walled-off, tightly constructed stories he was first known for.
With films like The Last Airbender and Glass, it seemed the filmmaker didn't know how to pare himself down and instead skipped over moments that would have been important and retained plenty of wasted scenes that just serve to bloat the films.
Good Cinematography
Shyamalan has always had an eye for visual, whether he was shooting a dialogue scene in the reflection of a TV or simply holding a stark wide for longer than expected. This hasn't really changed over the years, as he still manages to create some beautiful images. While he has had some slip-ups and relies too much on one-takes, the cinematography is not something fans should be worried about in his upcoming movie.
Sensible Casting
Casting has been one of Shyamalan's biggest sticking points throughout his career. Beginning with casting himself in a pivotal role in Lady In The Water and then with his entire casting of The Last Airbender which was heavily criticized, it's a major aspect of his films that's generally very hit-and-miss.
The good news is that his new film, Old, stars both Phantom Thread's Vicky Krieps and Hereditary's Alex Wolff, both acclaimed actors who should be more than capable of turning in solid performances, as long as the dialogue is good.
Good Scares
Another thing that Shyamalan hasn't really faltered with, pretty much all of his work has included a couple of quality scares, crafted through patience and not simply by having something ugly jump out at the audience. Old's sinister trailer gives a good indication that this new film should include a couple of spooky moments, something Shyamalan should be well equipped to deliver.
Creative Character Design
While it's hard to guess what exactly might happen in his upcoming film, the trailer's tone gives an idea that some pretty terrifying bodily transformations might make an appearance. With amazing designs from The Village and even to an extent Lady In The Water under his belt, it's safe to say that if the film happens to bend more supernatural Shyamalan will be in his element.
Emotional Resonance
This has been an issue with the filmmaker's scripts since The Village entered theaters. While he pays very detailed attention to world-building and creating striking visuals in his films, he seems unconcerned with creating stories that, once over, do anything emotionally to their audience.
What Old needs is for Shyamalan to go back to his The Sixth Sense roots and create a scary and exciting horror film but with a real emotional core.
Self Contained Story
This is less of an issue with Shyamalan himself and more the industry as a whole. As everyone is well aware, sequels, prequels, and extended universes are everywhere, and it was only a matter of time until Shyamalan got a piece of the action with his long-rumored Unbreakable series.
While it ended with a critical thud, the series hopefully got that impulse out of Shyamalan and can allow him to go back to focusing on self-contained stories, something he specializes in.
No Cameo
What started as a cute nod to the filmmaker's hero Alfred Hitchcock and his penchant for blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos in his own films, Shyamalan got carried away with himself.
Not content with giving himself larger and larger roles in each film following his first, he capped it off with a central role in Lady In The Water that critics simply hated. While a minor cameo is perfectly acceptable in his upcoming film, fans would hope that he keeps it minimal as possible for the risk of overindulging again.