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The Happening [2008]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

You'd expect the end of the world to be no day in the park, but in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, a day in the park is where the end begins. One otherwise peaceful summer morning, New Yorkers strolling in Central Park come to a halt in unison, then begin killing themselves by any means at hand. At a high-rise construction site a few blocks over, it's raining bodies as workers step off girders into space. And all the while, the city is so quiet you can hear the gentle breeze in the trees. That breeze carries a neurotoxin, and what or who put it there (terrorists?) is a question raised periodically as the film unfolds. But the question that really matters is how and whether anybody in the Middle Atlantic states is going to stay alive.

The Happening is Shyamalan's best film since The Sixth Sense, partly because he avoids the kind of egregious misjudgment that derailed The Village and Lady in the Water, but mostly because the whole thing has been structured and imagined to keep faith with the point of view of regular, unheroic folks confronted with a mammoth crisis. Focal characters are a Philadelphia high-school science teacher (Mark Wahlberg, excellent), his wife (Zooey Deschanel) and math-teacher colleague (John Leguizamo), and the latter’s little girl (Ashlyn Sanchez). Instinct says get out of the cities and move west; most of the film takes place in the delicately picturesque Pennsylvania countryside, with menace hovering somewhere in the haze. There are no special effects (apart from a wind machine and some breakaway glass), but the movie manages to be deeply unsettling in the matter-of-factness of its storytelling. Especially effective is its feel for what we might call the surrealism of banality. One warning sign that someone has been infected by the neurotoxin is irrational or erratic speech and behavior, yet Shyamalan has a genius for dialogue that sounds normal and everyday as it's spoken, yet flies apart grenade-like a second later as its logic (or illogic) sinks in. Then there's Deschanel's eye-rolling dodginess about the messages some guy has been leaving on her cellphone. Or the fellow (Frank Collis) who addresses his greenhouse plants as though they were his children--has a stray toxic zephyr wafted his way, or is this just his idea of normal? --Richard T. Jameson, Amazon.com

How is he getting away with it?
Review date: 2008-11-21 Rating: 2 out of 10

Lazy, lazy, lazy film maker.

"I'd like to make a clever film with a spooky twist... but I can't be asked, so this will do, and I bet they'll pay me loads of cash."

Mark Wahlberg, what were you thinking? Hadn't you read the script all the way through?

Dire, dire, dire.

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Reviews


What a load of rubbish!
Review date: 2008-11-17 Rating: 4 out of 10

I made the mistake of actually buying this dvd. Whilst the beginning was good, there was an expectation of something drastic happening in the storyline and it didnt. I think M Night is losing the plot! Sixth Sense was fantastic, however this film kept you engrossed up to a certain point, then it ended to my sheer disapointment. You would expect something to happen in a film called The Happening or even for the lead role to do something a bit more than stare into space for 70% of the film! Massive dissapointment and waste of money. Just watch it on telly when it comes out, but dont waste your good money on this dvd when there are many better films out there!

NOT AS BAD AS 99.9% SAY....
Review date: 2008-11-17 Rating: 6 out of 10

This isn't a total disaster as many say - personally, I often think people jump on the bandwagon whichever way the review trend goes.
I wouldn't buy this unless it was maybe on a promotion or something, but it's worth renting for an evening.
The central idea is good, and the movie is particularly atmospheric at times, with one scene bringing to mind, The Day After Tomorrow where the extreme cold front chased the characters; in this movie, the wind and it's deadly airborne toxin is in pursuit. There are also parts that bring to mind, the start of The Andromeda Strain movies.
If you like the Day Of The Triffids (BBC's version is best) and are looking forward to the BBC's upcoming Survivors, then you might like this.
It's not full of special FX and apart from the mass suicide scenes, it's not really gory. It's more about apprehension & suggestion. Having said that, there are scenes of suicide that are disturbingly reminiscent of 9/11.
Of all of Shymalan's movies, this feels the most like Signs in that it's a very quiet movie, that focuses strongly on a handful of principal characters set against a much bigger stage. It's also mostly set in rural locales after its urban beginnings, as characters flee the major cities.
What it most certainly isn't is a 28 Days/I Am Legend style piece - the happening/event only causes people to self harm/self kill - it doesn't turn people into zombies and they don't attack anyone at all, bar themselves. The suicide scene at the lion enclosure is perhaps the bloodiest.
I hold my hand up, I did split my sides at the scene where Mark Wahlberg began to address a household plant - I don't know how the actor or the crew kept it together for possibly the most unintentionally hilarious scene ever filmed!!
Wahlberg is good value in this picture, certainly playing against type. Some of the other actors are a bit dodgy at times, and I can't really say I'm a fan of John Leguizamo.
No classic but not an absolute stinker - this would have perhaps made a better TV mini series.

POINTLESS,DON'T BOTHER
Review date: 2008-11-16 Rating: 2 out of 10

Started watching the film and thought it looked promising, but after 30 mins was left thinking why am I bothering, it was a complete waste of time. I persevered until the end but would not recommend this film at all.

The idea was interesting but the film was rubbish, nothing more to say!

Promising premise but disappoints
Review date: 2008-11-14 Rating: 4 out of 10

It is always going to be an impossible task to fulfil peoples' expectations, following M. Night Shyamalan's meteoric rise to fame with "The Sixth Sense". He followed with reasonable success with "Unbreakable" and "Signs", but only achieved limited success with "The Village" and failed with "The Lady In The Water", a film most critics agreed should have remained as a Children's fantasy book fable, written only for his children.

In "The Happening", M. Night Shyamalan has ventured to an adult R-rated thriller, come horror in a desperate bid to bring a flaying career back on track.

The premise is promising. Although The Apocalypse is a common theme in movies today, we expect M. Night to be original and unconventional and in "The Happening" here he does not disappoint. He even incorporates a strong environmental message throughout.

At the beginning, "The Happening" begins strongly with a promising and powerful opening image and early on achieves his attempts of portraying scenes that are so disturbing they are fully capable of locking your eyes to the screen, while similarly making you incapable of looking away.

Sadly, "The Happening" then begins to lose ground, and all too soon quickly diminishes as the regularity of the images of death then give way to a feeling of mild embarrassment at the comic absurdity of the events unfolding. The biggest problem throughout is M. Night's attempts at maximum shock value are overdone, and all too quickly lose their impact. Before long you are left with a feeling of watching a `Scary Movie' franchise takeoff, rather than a serious attempt of the thriller-horror genre.

The subplot of the failing marriage between the central characters portrayed by Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel also seems out of place and irrelevant, and adds to the (at times) ludicrous storyline, with little on-screen chemistry between the two lead characters. John Leguzamo is as always reliable with his supporting role, but sadly plays only a short lived minor role.

Even the inevitable twist by M. Night is let down by the predictability of the twist, as unlike most of his previous works, the premise is given away early in the film, and the ending is obvious way before we get to the end. This also adds to the feeling of letdown after watching the movie, and whilst having previously gone away from his previous movies reflecting and questioning the powerful messages given in his works, the only real question one could ask is "Why did I bother?".

As a fan of M. Night Shyamalan's early genius, I will not give up hope of him re-establishing his cult status, but sad to say, The Happening is far from the movie capable in helping him to do so.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Mark Wahlberg
Betty Buckley
John Leguizamo
Zooey Deschanel

Creators:
Zooey Deschanel (Primary Contributor)
Betty Buckley (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
EAN: 5039036038706
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-11-03
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 86 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2008

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