The Happening (Special Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Very well done movie and a step towards returning to the form and style of his first successes (rather than the disappointing "Lady in the Water"). M Knight continues to excell as always at setting a scene and a mood, and Mark Wahlberg and Zoe Deschanel are excellent, Betty Buckley fantastic and absolutely scarey. I feel he could have done better at the finish...too much was left hanging, though the transferance of the "happening" to France at the end was nicely done. The extras on the DvD were somewhat disappointing though, especially the "gag" reel. It became apparent that everyone involved with the production expected the impact of the movie and some of the action would be far creepier or scarier than they actually were. For a viewing population perhaps desensitized over the years by the plethora of schock garbage full of exceptional blood and violence, M Knight doesn't seem to understand that at base, "The Happening" remains rather tame in that respect. Nonetheless, I'd recommend it with two thumbs up to anyone, with the hope that M Knight can keep returning to the heights of his first achievements.

Once again Amazon has sent a BlueRay that doesn't open past the menu. This the fourth one I've paid for.

I would rate this film ZERO stars if that were possible. Even if you accept the nutty premise that all of the plants on earth are revolting against the humans because they are sick and tired of the pollution, the really, really stupid thing about this movie is the notion that the plants emit a chemical that makes you want to commit suicide. I could accept a story along the lines of a toxin of some kind that the plants emit that kills people off, but just getting a whiff of a tree in the breeze is enough to make you drop what you are doing and go jump off a building or start blowing people away with a gun??? Come on, M Night, I love your other films, but you completely dropped the ball with this one. Get back to the quality of 'Signs' and 'The Village.'

I have to shamefully admit something here: I'm an M. Night junkie. I love just about everything he's done. Yes, even Lady in the Water, which had a heartfelt message at its core and a great actor (Paul Giamatti) leading the way. And there were at least some creepy creatures in it. Lots of things were "happening."

Unfortunately, you can't say the same thing for THE HAPPENING (I've given it the unfortunate new title of "The Unhappening").

Let's see ...where to begin...

I guess the story is as bad a place as any...

First off, if you're going to make a thriller, it needs to be scary. The Happening isn't. The story has an enemy that we never see. And although unseen enemies can be psychologically frightening if done right (a bit of a caveat), they can be hard to pull off. The simple fact that not only was The Happening's main antagonist(s) not in the least frightening, it was seriously lame and completely unbelievable as to how the main protagonist comes to understand how it's "chasing them."

Second problem...

Acting. Although I'm no die-hard fan of Mark Wahlberg (The Departed), I have enjoyed previous films with him as a main character. But here he pulls in a very wooden and careless performance. Perhaps the script stymied him, perhaps not. But I think the bad script/story is definitely to blame, because also in the cast were John Leguizamo (Ice Age) and Zooey Deschanel (Failure to Launch), both of which I consider high prizes in Hollywood and often underused. Their stilted line deliveries ("Don't take my daughter's hand unless you mean it!") and equally wooden performances seem to point toward story problems of epic proportions.

The final stone...

I'll cast the final stone and mention the complete lack of anything approaching a character we can sympathize or identify with. Again, pretty much a script/story problem. People die. They fall off buildings, stab themselves with hair pins, allow themselves to be run over by a riding mower, hang themselves, crash their cars, and die in fairly gruesome fashion (earning the film it's first R rating for M. Night). And I think this is where he screwed up. He must've equated gruesomeness with theatrical tension, but that wasn't the case. There needs to be a human element to the story and up until now, M. Night has been able to deliver it.

But here, it just ain't "happening."

Heard the bad reviews? Not true. M. Night's a modern day Hitchcock. Very freaky, a little dark, but never gratuitous - the violence is mostly left to your imagination, which makes it creepier. Loved the acting, characters, story, and it looks beautiful on Blu-ray. Keep it up, M.!