Easily the greatest director of our time, and without a doubt the definitive voice of this generation, M. Night Shyamalan has made some of the most thought-provoking and profound movies of the past decade. His ability to bring out the best in his actors is unrivaled. His deep knowledge of cinematography is unparalleled. And his unique ability to enthrall the viewer until the end is undeniable. He’s a champ. Shymaladiny directed such classics as The Village , Lady in the Water , and The Happening . Each one of these movies forces people to think deeply and question the entire way they think. But, his latest film, The Last Airbender , proves he transcended the fine line between great directors and legendary ones. At first, I was skeptical when I heard Shyamaladijad was going to both direct and write the movie version of a popular kid’s cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender . After all, the makers of Dragonball: Evolution took source material that could have been anointed by God himself and turned it into the next Mortal Kombat movie. No movie could truly derail Shamalamadingdong’s sterling career, but I thought this movie might tarnish it. I can’t believe how wrong I was. From subtle pronunciation differences to changing two of the Asian main characters in the cartoon into Caucasian characters, Shamaran transformed and condensed over 400 minutes of the original cartoon into a phenomenonal 90 minutes with no major plot holes. The movie kept me entranced, and the writing brought out the best in each actor. Normally this would be an impressive feat on its own, but Shamalamalan took a cartoon series made by an entirely different team and wholly improved it. This simply proves his greatness. Not only did M. Night stay true to the loyal fan base of the cartoon, he did it by creating a masterpiece any casual moviegoer would fully enjoy. I even think it’s safe to say critics will look at this movie ten years from now as the movie that completely rejuvenated Hollywood. A few naysayers out there think his movies have no plot and he relies completely on clever twists at the end to try to patch together an incoherent mess, that his writing creates some of the most awkward, and very often comical, scenes in movies today, or that he made one good, original movie and has been rehashing it ever since. But, as clearly seen with The Last Airbender , he can make a thoughtful, spellbinding movie with no plot twist. I think he definitely proved himself with this movie. His newest film, Devil , comes to theaters September 17th. After seeing the trailers, I know this movie will be another can’t-miss Shyamalan masterpiece.