10/10

A+

Greatest Movie I Have Ever Seen!

...

Maybe, I don't know yet

This thread shall have more Ds than a Hooters bar

A/B's all the way!!!

SPOILER FREE

At a second that 'The Happening' ended, I was basically wordless. First thing that came out from my mouth was, "you're one of egoistic bastard, Mr. Shyamalan. I envy you."

No, I didn't love this movie. But how Mr. Shyamalan refuses to go stream and continues to 'believe' in his own story (or should I say 'his own world') really impresses me. 'The Happening' is a(nother) proof that he doesn't give a damn thing about the audience. He is a capable director. And he would easily success in rebound (commercially), had he gone with the simple (meaning, less absurd) storyline. And that was what I thought he would do after two commercially failures, I thought he was going to give up and lean toward the mainstream one. But instead, he chose not to. And that's, in my humble opinion, something worth-praising.

Originality, unpredictability are what have always been the interesting part of the 'Shyamalan' idea, especially his recent films. Those elements are still here, his latest film, 'The Happening'. Some audience will find it superb. Instead, some will have the idea of absurdity to be 'ridicule', unpredictability to be 'nonsense'.

I was one of the former with 'The Village', I loved that film. With 'Lady in the Water', I was one of the later. But with 'The Happening', I think I'm standing in the middle of two, leaning a bit toward to both sides in the same time.

Yes, the absurdity of the basic storyline bothered me all the way end while watching this movie. Call me imagining-less or whatever, but the question I was asking myself while watching this film is 'Can this really be Happening?'. The worse thing is, I can't really blame the script for this part. There was the explanation of all this 'happening'. And the explanation was unarguable. Especially, for me who believe in this quote from this film;

"Science will come up with some reason to put in the books, but in the end it will be just a theory. We will fail to acknowledge that there are forces that work beyond our understanding."

So yes, while the idea bothered me while watching. But in the end, it wasn't a movie's flaw at all.

The acting was solid all around. The directing was really great as usual, unarguably great as usual as well. I've always considered him to be one of those who is good in building the suspense. The R-rated scenes might come out ridiculous for some, but not me. I found those scenes to be very creepy. Though some of them make no sense, it's still effective.

So, what is the problem?

It's the same old issue with his previous film. It's his ego of his desire in pulling out his story. Which, as odd as it sounds, is worth-praising at the same time. The idea is ruined when unfold into a script of 80 minute-long film. While in 'Lady in the Water', the demolition is how lots of things happened and all became one messed up. In 'The Happening', is how, simply, nothing happened. This, also, leads to another flaw; the lack in development of marriage-problem plot line.

However, I still liked the film, although not much. It's still a challenging film. My faith in Mr. Shyamalan stays still. There will be the day when his brilliant directing is to serve the equally brilliant written script of his wonderful idea (whether by him or someone else). And I'm eager for that day to come.

B+

That was quite an up and down review... and it gets a B+!!!



Why should Shyamalan care about the audience though? People will still see it, no matter what, and even though it may be trashed, he doesn't care! I love that about him!

The most brill post I've read by far, lol.

Just saw that someone wants to be spoiled..

Even though there's some negatives, that review excites me.

great to hear...I'm guessing general WOM will be pretty awful, which could suck after a solid OW, but if it's good enough for those who appreciate what he's doing, that's enough for me. I'm excited.

I never understood why critics (and audiences) were so hard on M. Night Shyamalan. I honestly believe that Lady in the Water and The Village are his best films (sue me!). That's why I overlooked The Happening's negative buzz, and went to see it on its opening day. To my surprise, critics were right (for the most part), and Shyamalan has disappointed me for the first time.

The idea of an airborne toxic that causes people to unconsciously hurt themselves is geniunly original, creepy, and effective. Fittingly, Shyamalan comes up with the scariest death scenes in recent memory. My fiancee had to cover her eyes multiple times. Moreover, The Happening has a couple of excellent jump scares. Needless to say, Shyamalan is still excellent at composing his scenes. And as usual, James Newton Howard's score rocks. Unfortuantely, that's were the good news ends.

The very first scene of The Happening puts you right in the middle of the action. But that's probably why the film runs out of steam so quickly. I totally agree with JURiNG. This should've been a 75-80 minute film. Basically, nothing happens in the second half. We're just introduced to a couple of freaky, freaky characters. Mrs. Jones in particular did get huge laughs at my showing. And BTW, I was perfectly fine with the explanation the film came up with.

Shyamalan was always able to get excellent performances out of his leads. I'd even say that's his trademark. However, Mark Wahlberg totally lets him down. He was terrible. He has same look on his face whether he's scared, joking, or thinking. The tone of his voice rarely changed as well. His turn single-handedly eliminates the emotional impact of a lot of scenes. Remember Lady in the Water's Healing scene? I cried like a baby when I saw that. The Happening has a similar scene, but frankly, I couldn't care less. Deschanel was even worse. She was just standing there, reciting her lines. She got better near the end though.

The Sixth Sense - A
Unbreakable - A-
Signs - B+
The Village - A
Lady in the Water - A+
The Happening - B-

About the acting, umm I don't know, I wouldn't call it 'bad'. It's bizarre. Which, somehow, fits very well with the film. It really feels like it was a director's intention to have it come out this way.

Then it's Shyamalan's fault then. I'd nominate both leads for Razzies though.

His basic problem is he basically fucks over audiences with EVERY movie. The Village was the worst example of false advertising I've EVER seen. It was marketed as a straight horror movie and ended up being political bullshit.

Same with The Happening, if it's about plants, say it. Don't try to make it all mysterious, the audience isn't going to be impressed with a "killer plants" plot.

I'd like to go up to him and punch him in the face, what a pretentious asshole.

My belief as well.

Didn't you feel a bit weird with the acting from both leads? I don't know the truth, but I think it was Shyamalan's ego. He was so controlling over every detail in each scene, including the actors.

Yes, I'd rather blame him than than the actors.

Okay, I don't know the guy, and I would never claim to, but I did meet him down in Philly, and he's really a very nice guy. He didn't come off as cocky at all, he really didn't, and we had a good 15 minutes to talk so I think that part of him might have shown through if it was really prominent. I think a lot of critics are more frustrated with how he is "wasting his potential" or his stubborn attitude when it comes toward his creations, and over the years this perception has prevailed and painted Shyamalan as whiny, controlling, and full of hubris. While I believe as much as the next guy that he should take some time off from completely writing his films and do someone else's material, I still find it admirable that he has yet to do an adaptation or a sequel or a remake, and the only bad film I think he's made so far was Lady in the Water. The Village was mis-marketed, but I don't see how that can be his fault. Obviously the folks at Disney were going to market that as pure horror, as they knew that's what had made Shyamalan money in the past. I never have seen so great a deal of hate for such a talented director, and not remarkable, but very original and capable writer.

Ranking of my favorite M. Night Shyamalan's films..

The Sixth Sense - A
Signs - A
The Village - A-
Unbreakable - B+
The Happening - B+
Lady in the Water - C+

From what you said about his personality, I bet he's a perfectly nice guy, but a little overcocky when he's behind the camera, since he's been a sensation ever since he entered the industry.

Yeah, the whole thing was very weird, as if the characters don't have any feelings or something. Moreoever, that was the first M. Night flick that felt like a movie.

BTW, someone at RT is calling M. Night a one hit wonder

C-

Disappointing and pointless.

First things first, acting. The acting was so fucking bad it has to be seen to be believed. I just don't understand how Juring can say this film had decent acting in it. I like Zooey Deschanel and Mark Walhberg but even they are capable of better in this. The acting is important in these types of films, because its meant to keep you in the moment, i've honestly seen better acting on Gossip Girl.

The storyline, what, i'm not stupid. No tricks. No twist. Personally I was hoping for the twist. I like Shyamalan's ideas but this needed more help.

There are some good moments in here, but unfortunately I was thoroughly disappointed. The movie posters for this movie, make no sense.

About the acting, mayyyybe... because I truly believe both Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel aren't bad actors. That's why I thought it was Shyamalan's intention. He wanted it that way. To fit with the whole thing, maybe? Is he trying something we don't know?....

I don't know, this guy is such egoistic.

still loved him, though.

Oh,

so, you chose this?

No! It's a joke, get it? Plant?

Ah, well, I thought it was funny.

Oh, too bad I didn't get it

..
anyway, planning to see it sometime soon?

or not a fan of Mr. Shyamalan?