The Happening Review
by Jerry Saravia (faustus_08520 AT yahoo DOT com)May 25th, 2010
THE HAPPENING (2008)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: One star (D)
M. Night Shyamalan is a master at setting the audience up - he knows how to fuel the buildup so we sit there wondering what will happen next. "Lady in the Water" was a stranger, ambitious film in his ouevre, a convoluted mermaid fairy-tale that never quite found its pulse. "The Happening," however, is an eager attempt to re-establish what he does best: a slow, uneasy uncovering of something mysterious that will keep you guessing. His best films ("The Sixth Sense," "The Village") kept the mystery alive because he showed compassion for his characters until the inevitable surprise ending. "The Happening" contains a remarkable sense of dread and foreboding in the first fifteen minutes, and it goes severely downhill afterwards with perfunctory characters.
Something is happening in the city of Philadelphia. Pedestrians on the streets stop dead in their tracks, look as stone faced as Medusa, and suddenly kill themselves. Constructions workers fall to their deaths, some stab themselves on the neck, cops shoot themselves and there is general hysteria here. Mark Walhberg is a high-school science teacher who runs for the hills, along with his nearly listless wife (Zooey Deschanel), his fellow teacher friend (John Leguizamo) and his own daughter (Ashlyn Sanchez), heading to a presumably safe haven, unaware of what is causing all this mass suicide. They take the trusted SEPTA train only to be stuck in some small town, outside of Philadelphia, and they cavort in the countryside hoping that what seems like a terrorist attack will end soon. Well, it is not terrorists spreading deadly nerve gases but rather plants and trees. If the weather gets overcast and the wind starts to rustle the foliage, watch out, run, and don't stay in groups of more than four!
Unfortunately, there is not a heck of a lot more to say about "The Happening." There are some unintended laughs along the high mortality rate but nothing to latch onto - no real basic story other than a dangling premise that would be hardly meaty enough for a "Twilight Zone" episode. Even the rules established by Wahlberg are not followed since a small group of people can still invoke suicidal tendencies, although how do the trees and bushes know or care how many people to attack and instill with such violence is beyond my understanding. This not exactly "Day of the Triffids" - it is more like "Day of the Stiffs." The actors, including a very wasted Zooey Deschanel (in more ways than one), seem forced in their reactions to this madness and clearly misdirected. My favorite scene, full of unintended laughs, has Wahlberg trying to convince a house plant that he just wants to use the bathroom. It turns out the plant is plastic. Do yourself a favor: watch TV's classic "What's Happening" instead.
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