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The Happening (2008)
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The Happening Reviews
Are We There Yet?
What really perfects good endings is making the viewer not wait for them. Imagine watching one of the best films ever, one that's moving along so well you don't wish it to end. But as the film inevitably comes to its conclusion, you find the end so good as to make it hard for you to decide whether it was better for the film to end of not. This conflict makes the film even more memorable and longevous. What's happening in M. Night Shyamalan's newest attempt is the exact opposite.
From the very first minute, viewers begin to wait for the film to end - not because they are anticipating some kind of ultimately incredible plot twist, but rather because they are simply not entertained. I certainly did not expect The Happening to atone itself during the last minutes either by some plot twist, some kind brilliantly profound conclusion or even a punch line. I just wanted it to end.
As the film rolls, this feeling intensifies. Deaths become more and more macabre, characters even less likable and dialogue - well, at least the quality of dialogue is consistently bad throughout. The film enthusiast starts to become quite interested, wondering to whether what he's currently watching might be charting yet unexplored realms of bad cinema. In the end, I think The Happening does actually present new ways of making viewers annoyed and unentertained by moving pictures, thus bringing something genuinly novel to the medium. True, most of it is borrowed from b-grade sci-fi/horror flicks; yet I think bringing those low standards of (partly intentionally) expressionless acting and extensive recycling to 21st century film-making earns Shyamalan dishonorable mention.
What one does not find in The Happening is over-acting. In fact, acting is so weak that I couldn't help thinking that perhaps it was all done by having actors vocally memorize their lines in front of cameras and using those shots in the final cut. And it doesn't help that the characters are not given much personality. One can draw no other conclusion than that making viewers sympathize with any of the characters was just not included in the producers' priorities. Some sort of Brechtian methodology of eliminating any suspension of disbelief may have been affecting in the background, or then, alternatively, most aspects of the production simply failed. I still ponder which scenario is more likely.
Of course, the premises are not too promising to begin with. Millenarian terror needs more and more substance in order to be able reach to 21st century audiences, after having witnessed scores of cinematic representations of comprehensive world destruction scenarios around the turn of the century. And as the backbone theme about the relationship between science and mystery in nature turns out unconvincing and surprisingly unintelligent, it should be no wonder that the production appears both incomplete and half-hearted.
Yes, it is that bad. Watch it for sheer curiosity, if you have to.
My rating of The Happening:
Shyamalan's tribute to 50's sci-fi
I had heard critique of this film ever since it hit the theaters, but I still nursed a belief that Shyamalan couldn't do anything so badly. Unfortunately the movie experience proved me wrong.
The main characters in the film were reacting to "the Happening" in a manner that rings untrue, thus making them unappealing to the audience.
The Happening itself is equal to the terrors of worst 50's sci-fi and somehow leaves the viewer unafraid and unmoved.
As a whole the movie was predictable from the word go to the final events. He's "save our world"-message would have been more powerful had he destroyed the whole planet. They never have the guts, though.
My rating of The Happening:
