Movie Review - “The Happening”
** 1/2 STARS
After the huge success of “The Sixth Sense” M. Night Shyamalan has been under intense scrutiny with each new release. Many would say the quality of his work has deteriorated with each new film he puts out. I am a big fan of Shyamalan’s distinct brand of direction and storytelling. Unfortunately this movie’s pay off is not as fulfilling as his other big hits “Signs” and “Unbreakable”, this movie fits somewhere between his least successful movies “The Village” and “Lady in the Water”.
The main think that hampers down this film is the terrible acting by Mark Wahlberg as a “Science teacher”; it was so bad it became distracting during some of the more intense scenes. Shyamalan’s realistic and at times hilarious dialogue saves him from completely ruining the entire movie. Zooey Deschanel does a good job as Wahlberg’s constantly brooding girlfriend and keeps Wahlberg from completely missing the mark. But as usual in a film by Shyamalan, the supporting characters and various extra’s have some of the best moments in “The Happening”.
I can’t say too much without giving away Shyamalan’s signature “hook” or “twist�?, but this one is subtlety creepy and very effective. The “R” rating leads way for Shyamalan to show us his spin on gore and I have a sinking suspicion that he could put out an awesome horror movie on the scale of Brian De Palma’s “Carrie” or Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The graphic death scenes are what make me recommend this film the most.
Once again M. Night is dividing audiences with his unique style of storytelling with “The Happening”. I happen to like his imaginative and childish look at life. This movie is like a pleasant (and disturbing) long drawn out episode of “The Twilight Zone” or “Tales From The Crypt” episode and for fans of the quirky genre this will be satisfying. As far as summer movie fare goes this was a nice chilling ride at the cinema.
WATCH “THE HAPPENING” MOVIE TRAILER BELOW:
Leave a Reply