Year: 2008
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Country: US
Language: English
M.Night Shyamalan started his career strong with the 1999 classic The Sixth Sense which won the praise of critics and cinephiles alike. He would follow this with another hit, Unbreakable, a film about a man who seemingly cannot die, then slowly make worse pictures throughout the rest of his life. He compares himself to Hitchcock, which is quite baffling, as he has none of the technical master that Hitch did. He is mainly known for his twist endings, which often don't make any sense. Why would aliens, who are allergic to water, come to a planet made mostly of water? His career hit an all time low in 2008, so why not review the picture that sank the tugboat?
In Shymalan's The Happening, a science teacher (Mark Whalberg), his wife (Zooey Deschanel) , and a young girl (Ashlyn Sanchez) struggle to survive a plague that causes those infected to commit suicide.
Rotten Tomatoes gives The Happening a 17% rating, even Mark Whalberg has gone on record saying that the film is "complete shit", only signing onto the project because he wanted to play a scientist. Unfortunately there is no science in this movie, the scientist just dismisses everything by saying "it's nature". Shyamalan tries to give us an explanation for why people are randomly committing suicide (is it the wind? the plants? are the clouds in on it?) but it's very conflicting and still not clear by the end of the film. Perhaps he was trying to instill a sense of realism. In reality, nobody would understand the cause of the sudden suicides and everybody would be trying to connect the dots. Citizens and news stations would voice conflicting beliefs as science races to put an end to the hysteria. That being said, if nature is killing you why wouldn't you just stay inside?
Shyamalan tries to stick an enironmental message in his picture, don't harm the environment or else it will harm you, but it falls flat. The acting is atrocious; as bad as the script. I do think there are many memorable and frightening scenes, including a man purposefully laying in front of a tractor and an old woman going insane. It is very well paced, slowly unveiling the climax. If the Director intended The Happening to be a campy B-movie then I'd say he did a great job as it is very fun to watch, but as an intelligent thriller it fails on many levels. Great premise, lousy execution.
In conclusion, The Happening is worth watching, but only as brainless entertainment. It is not boring, but it's not full of substance either. This flick could have been far better in the right hands, but Shyamalan doesn't know what to do with the material and thus it cannot bloom. Does it deserve the low ratings? Yes and no. You'll enjoy yourself, but for all the wrong reasons. 2.5/5
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