Movie Review: The Happening

I’d heard dire things about the film, that Shyamalan’s losing streak was going strong, but aside from a few corny lines and a poor delivery, I found it to be an effective thriller.

By effective I might I had to fight to keep lunch down throughout the first act. It was that scary. And I’m not a wimp, Saw, Hostel and the rest of them don’t cause me the loss of a moment’s sleep, but this … this was creepy.Shyamalan’s back in the cornfields, drawing evil from nature as he often does. What if the world were to turn on us and mow down thousands, millions in the space of a day?That’s a hell of a story.He always gets me. Shyamalan’s disturbing fable freaked me out. It’s that creeping dread at which he excels, that Hitchcockian cinematic sensibility that makes you pant to know what’s around the corner, through your fear. He gives you a voyeur’s courage. Speaking of Hitchcock, did I miss the filmmaker’s customary cameo? He has created a palpable, agonizing disturbance that gets under the skin even as the sun shines and the grass blows in gentle breezes.That is why Zoey Deschanel’s performance is so incomprehensible. She plays Mark Wahlberg’s wife, as they flee from some kind of toxic attack. She looks barely awake, even as she witnesses atrocities and aftermaths and suddenly discovers her inner strong woman. She simply opens her eyes wider and pouts as the apocalypse arrives on her grassy doorstep. Such a blank, flat, dead performance. Talk about chilling. I wonder how much that scared the director?It’s true that some unfortunate lines are thrown out and lie there like dead herrings. Someone should have edited these lines in the second draft. But they actually did little to divert me from the unfolding horror. Wahlberg is just fine, minus the unfortunate lines, making a believable leader and partner. His character makes a connection between disappearing honeybees and the apocalypse, forearmed with a good grasp of news reports, education and some intuition. Betty Buckley is some kind of righteous recluse, the last holdout, off the grid, off her nut awaiting the worst that God can dish out. The fleeing family takes refuge in her home, a house similar to the ones in The Village and Signs, in a place where the modern age and technology cannot save anyone.One of the film’s funniest images is on a billboard for new homes about to be built in the as yet uncorrupted countryside. It says ‘You deserve it!’And so we do!The Happening is an ecological horror film, a message film, a green film and a protest film locked into the 2008 zeitgeist. It’s about as today as it gets. And that’s why the rural chapters work so well. The countryside is a strange and forbidding place to most people today. There are no interlocking brick driveways, Starbucks, newsstands or jostling passersby. No skyscrapers, art installations, townhouses or taxicabs. The countryside here is unfamiliar, an unknown quantity, unpredictable and dangerous. Not our friend.That is scary indeed.35mm sci fi drama
Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Opens: June 13
Runtime: 91 minutes
MPAA: Rated R for violent and disturbing images
Country: US
Language: English
Rating: 7/ 10

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Tadpole BuckshotJun 22nd, 2008 - 18:22:08

This movie was utter crap.

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FrankJun 27th, 2008 - 22:26:55

I knew the film was going to be total crap from the get-go, however, I went to see it anyway . . . mainly out of curiosity -- to see how bad it was really going to be. I went with garbage-pail expectations and that's exactly what I got. I suppose, I'd compare it to slowing down to look at a car crash. Even though it's horrendous, you want to see the carnage. In this case, I wanted to see the failure. And let me tell you -- it certainly met all of my expectations and, surprisingly, generated a lot of laughs. I was so amused by this films overall terribleness that I actually produced a parody.

See the film, search for THE CRAPPENING: THE HAPPENING PARODY on YouTube. (I would just post a link here, but the site won't allow it.)

For best results, be sure to watch the high-quality version.

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mackbeezyOct 10th, 2008 - 06:16:43

why? why? why?

why do i always fall for the trailers that make it seem like this guy M. NIGHT SHAMAwhatever is a great director?

this movie simply sucks. i was rolling my eyes every 30 seconds.

listening to marky mark breathing heavy, out of breath throughout the movie was once again very disapointing. get this, i actually like wahlberg fom his marky mark days as a rapper, but he must be low on $ to take on this box office loser.

Mr M. Night please do us all a favor...the economy is in bad enough shape as it is..we do not have any more disposable income to throw away.

PLANTS attacking the world?

all you do is turn on a FAN, and creep us out as the plants blow back and forth????

are you serious? well if you are i am too. NO MORE M. NIGHT movies for me....I'M DONE!

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ConnerOct 14th, 2008 - 22:12:36

You need to go into this movie not just wanting a cool story or wanting to see violence. The happening was supposed to be symbolic for how humans are destroying the earth and that plants are retaliating. Obviously you are ignorant towards this fact. If you just want to see blood and gore, find another slasher movie.

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