I think reviewers have gotten fed up with Shyamalan the moment he cast himself as the savior of humanity and killed an annoying critic character in his one of this movie.
And don't forget subjecting them to
The Last Airbender in horribly (barely) post-converted 3D, and then wailing about how critics don't appreciate the
"accent" and "integrity" of his technique.
Also, many critics love to champion auterist films and auteur filmmakers as inherently superior to generic, by-the-numbers movies. (When
The Happening came out, I distinctly remember one critic from the
AV Club saying that the also-new
Iron Man was indisputably a better movie, but that the stylistic uniqueness of Shyamalan's movie made it more interesting.) And, to be fair, when one sees as much mediocre and generic, soulless product as professional film critics do, their hunger for distinctiveness is perfectly understandable. It's only natural, then, that they'd take special interest in skewing the Night: he represents a petulant, ego-fueled mockery of everything they love and champion in what they correctly see as the endangered ranks of auteur and indie writer/directors. Also, it's a lot more fun and easier to take potshots at a guy with that much personality than the Joe Schmoe director of, say,
The Internship.
Really, this is all pretty straightforward. I don't know who
JarodRussell thinks he's impressing with his ominous description of working writers' natural attitudes and responses as "suspicious".
