I wanted to do a review of M. Knight Shymalan’s The Happening for one reason-because it got mostly bad reviews. I wanted to see for myself just what was so bad about it. And the thing is, it really wasn’t that bad. Okay, the plot is pretty convoluted…SPOILER ALERT, look away if you don’t want to know…it’s about an airborne virus that makes people kill themselves, and the virus is being spread by trees and plants. Which, okay, that is silly, but not much more silly than the plot of most Stephen King and Dean Koontz novels. What I think the critics missed is the theme of the movie, which is about the marriage between the two main characters, and how the crisis brings them back together.
The Happening stars Mark Wahlberg (The Departed) as Elliott Moore, and Zooey Deschanel (Elf) as his wife Alma. John Leguizamo (Ice Age) is Elliott’s friend and coworker Julian. There’s also a wonderful performance by Betty Buckley (longtime actress, I remember watching her on “Eight is Enough”), and Spencer Breslin (The Santa Clause movies) also has a part. How all of these different characters react to the crisis, and how Elliot and Alma resolve their marital problems to work together is the real plot of this movie, and I think the critics missed that in their reviews.
The disc has a ton of extra features, and I have to say, I was impressed. I always watch bonus features, and The Happening really shows what goes on behind the scenes of making a film. It shows the actors rehearsing, doing retakes, setting up shots. If you are a fan of M. Knight Shymalan’s work (you know, The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable), don’t miss this movie.
Sounds like a good one to watch the next time the kids are both home. I like to watch the bonus features too.
I thought it looked interesting, but it’s supposed to be very disturbing, and I can’t take those kinds of movies anymore. I used to be a huge horror fan, but now that I’m a mom, I just can’t hack it. Hm…I guess that was an unintentional pun.
Maybe I’m just punchy from lack of sleep.
Thanks for the review, I think i give this movie a shot even if i have mostly heard bad things about it.
Even with the gore this movie is a 1 out of 5 on scary. If the movie was going for gore it’s a 2 out of 5 which probably the highest rating I can give on a category dealing with this movie. I could feel M. Knight mocking me the entire movie. Taunting me with, “You are just another moron who supported me at the height of my mediocrity.”
Even for a B movie this movie sucked, and it sucked so badly that I was wondering if was a comedy, because all I could do is laugh the entire time. Half way through you think to yourself, okay, this has got get better, right? Come on M. Knight! Give us a twist that will make it all better. Wrong! As the end draws near, you feel so underwhelmed you don’t have the muster to breath let alone hit the button with the square on your remote.
The jokes on us folks. The real tragedy is that as bad as the movie was, there were small moments of redeeming value. M. Knight gave us just enough to string us along and avoid the worst movie ever category. Which is sad because with a little more effort I think M. knight could have won that category.