The Happening
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, John Leguizamo, Betty BuckleyDirector: M. Night Shyamalan
Studio: 20th Century Fox
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release: October 7th 2008
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DVD Review
A paranoid thriller about a family on the run from a natural crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity.
User Reviews
The Wind Cried Mary - Rating: 2/5
From the reviews I knew the movie was going to be a letdown, but we had fun watching it and got suckered in by the spooky, melancholy sound of the wind stirring the grass and the leaves at the top of the incredibly tall trees. From that standpoint the film's technical credits get high marks. I even liked James Newton Howard's score, but I have a weakness for overemphatic film music--at least I thought that Howard understood the plot of the film, possibly better than MNS himself.
TIRAMISU SPOILER AHEAD!
The movie made us examine our own lives as Plato urges us to do. We walked a mile in the other man's moccasins thinking that if a rare virus sprung up on the wind and made us try to kill ourselves, how would we do it? It's not as easy as it sounds! Sure, you could slide a hatpin out of your long hair and stab yourself in the throat with it, but most of us don't have that sort of hair ornament. You saw what happened when Philadelphia comes to a standstill and an armed cop falls to the ground, his pistol clattering on the cobblestones, and a woman picks it up, then the gun falls again, well, that gun gets a lot of use, it's because people are literally starving for ways to kill themselves. First off, I decided, I would smoke a carton of cigarettes and enjoy a pitcher of margaritas... then see what happened. Maybe a heroin overdose? In the movie we marvelled how the characters managed to off themselves using just the tools at hand, like McGyvers in revsrse--I never would have thought of lying down on the lawn and letting a mower tear me to shreds.... though jumping out of a building is a natural. Mark Wahlberg, John Leguizamo, Zooey Deschanel were all uniformly terrible, and Betty Buckley brought back memories of Carrie, where she played the girls' understanding gym teacher... does she ever survive till the end credits in any of her movies?
Most of all I thought M. Night misplayed Zooey Deschanel's secret. We knew she was harboring a guilty secret, but why did it have to be something as banal as sharing a tiramisu dessert with "Joey"? Why couldn't they have had sex like most guilty lovers? Did he died for this dessert sin? Or is he still alive at the end of the movie? We were all ready for the twist ending in which it would be revealed that A;ma's pregnancy was the result, not of that one dessert date, but of a long campaign to drive Mark Wahlberg mad with their deceit--so the twist ending would be, "You told me you had dessert with him and now I found out youre having his baby!" "But you seemed stressed otherwise I would have told you sooner, I just made up that part about the tiramisu."
Probably the worst movie I've seen - Rating: 1/5
This movie was a complete waste of time. The plot is ridiculous. I am so disappointed. I, like the other reviewers, was a fan of earlier Shylaman films. This was just BAD!
What's happening with Mr. Shamalayan - Rating: 2/5
M. Night Shyamalan broke into Hollywood with Sixth Sense and was immediately considered one of the top, young directors in Hollywood. This was soon followed by Unbreakable, a movie that cemented Bruce Willis as one of the top actors of the 1990s. It was also a breakthrough film for the comic-book genre. Then came Signs and the Village, two films that though still innovative and original, had many detractors. Finally, it seems Mr. Night's magic has run out. Lady in the Water barely broke even at the box office, and then came the outright bomb, The Happening. Starring two familiar, but not blockbuster names, this movie adds a twist to a well-worn genre. A plague has hit the northeastern section of the US that causes people to commit suicide. The movie then follows a married couple's run from the plague. Clues are dropped throughout the movie as to the source of the plague, plants. Quite an original idea; sounds like a great premise for a great suspense, thriller, or horror movie. This movie is none of those. From the opening scene, the movie is quite apparent that something is up with the plants. And of course the plants are seen swaying in the wind right before people start committing suicide - all throughout the movie. So there goes the suspence, the foreboding, the fear of the unknown. Even worse is the acting. Both Ms. Daschaniel and Mr. Wahlberg look totally fake in their roles. So all in all, a total letdown.
A thinking person's zombie film - Rating: 4/5
The Happening (Special Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]
The Happening is a suspenseful, spooky movie with occasional gruesome violence, unusual to date in a Shyamalan film. This 2008 movie is a thought-provoking thriller that provides hints, but no real answers to the apocalyptic crisis. The audience is left to sort through the possible causes of the cataclysmic Happening, as well as to decide what it was that ended the crisis as quickly as it began.
Was there an environmental catastrophe? Was there some earthly ecological consciousness that arose to fight off the harmful human presence that is destroying the planet? Was it a malevolent supernatural force that moved in the air, possessing and killing victims in its wake?
What stopped or slowed the phenomenon? Did it peter out as a storm dissipates? If it was some satanic force, did it just move on to another place (Paris) to possess its next victims? If the catastrophe was caused by an intelligence, ecological or supernatural, did it recognize the power of love, which halted it in its tracks?
The story focuses on the troubled relationship of a couple (Wahlberg, Deschanel) fleeing their urban life in search of anywhere safer. Both characters were played simply, pared down, but endearing and demonstrating a vulnerability and truthfulness.
I was reminded of the Biblical story of Lot and his wife, and their flight from the doomed twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Despite the couples' efforts in both stories, they failed to save the population (or fellow refugees) after repeated attempts.
I didn't find clear answers in the film, but enjoyed debating the issues afterwards. I enjoy films like this that offer more than just entertainment for a couple of hours. Shyamalan takes his place with Rod Serling (and perhaps even Carl Sagan) as a modern speculative storyteller who seeks to understand humanity and our relationship not only to each other but to the cosmos.
I enjoyed The Happening enough to purchase the BD copy. I have seen both the DVD and Blu-ray versions. The Blu-ray offers a few bonus featurettes not included on the DVD edition, as well as improved picture and nice audio quality, and a textual commentary track with occasional PiP interview material. It is regrettable that there is no commentary track from the principals or writer-director Shyamalan on either version. But the high-def bonuses are a must for any who enjoyed this film.
So plants can think? - Rating: 1/5
When this movie started out I thought it might be good then it kept going downhill from there.I think the worst part of it was the storyline.I get that we better take better care of the planet but you MNS,ought to take better care of your audience.Some of us can think!Plants with brains?They know that we humans are the ones responsible for what is happening to them.I think not,they would only respond to the waste that is causing this.They would not know who is putting it there.Oh maybe it is nature,then again that would mean nature has a consciousness and can think and reason.I do not know how any of the actors could give a decent performance with stupidity like this.
