The Happening

I know most people hated this movie and I agree it had many problems. However, I actually liked the strange quirky characters and the film did create quite a bit of tension! It was mostly enjoyable. (I confess, I have loved all of his other films, so I may have a bias!)

The issues, as I see them, are:

1.) Deschanel and Wahlberg's story was not quite rich enough to satisfy on its own. This could have remedied by adding to Leguizamo's story -- his character was in a perfect position to show what was happening in the cities.

2.) Shyamalan seemed far too excited about his R rating so there was a goodly bit of gratuitous gruesomeness that didn't really add to the story. He forgot that won't you barely glimpse is far more terrifying than what is right in front of your face.

The knives are out for Night. My only complaint is the poster for the film in no way depicts what the film is about. You see the cars, you see the glow in the distance. It HAS to mean UFOs. Right? Wrong. Everyone was very under-the-radar in the film. No chewing the wallpaper acting. I fear this man is just way ahead of his time and that most people don't understand what he says in his films is possible. Strange as that may seem. Mother Nature IS at war with us because we are killing off thousands of species every day with our selfishness. OK, the movie is a little over-the-top when it comes to how many of the people die in this film. However, that said, there definitely has to be a toxin that can make people do insane things that some foreign country has produced and is sitting around in a lab somewhere. Early experiments with LSD in the 50s on unsuspecting people proved that. I truly believe this kind of biological warfare is going to happen in a big city near you some day soon. Who knows what the effects will be? I enjoyed this film. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The characters were right on. They were a tapestry of everyday Americans. You know most of the people in the film from your own life, I'm sure. The happy ending was a touch too much for me, but I understand what he was saying. Life goes on. I think the man is a genius and he has a vision and a message for us, but we are too caught up in blockbusters to see it. And soon it will be too late.

Al Gore would probably like this movie, but Michelle Polk rates it at zero! A gory movie which made little sense. Oh, I get the whole propaganda theme but the movie itself was just stupid. Suicide after suicide is committed because the plants are angry with humans. It might make a good sci-fi book but to watch those scenes over and over was just too rough!

I'm noticing an interesting trend in Mr. Shyamalan's movies. While the "threat" or "main issue" of the movie is often dramatic and horrifying, the dialogue and relationships of the characters are usually delicate and graceful. There's a beautiful subtly to his movies that tug at your heart ever so gently. All of his main characters have wounded souls that, somehow through the difficulty they confront in the course of the story, figure out their greatest strengths. Not every ending is a perfect one and not every loose end is neatly tied and I wonder if that's why so many are walking away from his movies disappointed. There's no bang-bang shoot em' up or excessive gratuitous sex in every scene. I really walk away feeling connected to the people in his films. They seem like everyday people (with the exception of a few supernatural powers in some of his films - lol) with everyday internal struggles and I like that.

The Happening's characters are really no different than any of Mr. Shyamalan's other films, but the story is definitely different. No one ever fully answers the question of what is happening, yet there is a perfectly scientific plausibility to the event. I felt a myriad of emotions from fear and panic to being intrigued with how the story unfolded and ultimately how it ended.

This was a good movie. I think what so many viewers are dissatisfied with is M. Night Shyamalan's style. He's a unique director and producer just like Quentin Terantino is... you either like his style or you don't. The Happening was a great story with great characters and a lot of heart.

becaause if they keep making movies like this we are going to do ourselves in
the future of movies is indeed corporate dispensibility