I probably won't be seeing it anytime soon. But who knows?

Shyamalan is someone I don't care about enough to either get excited about his work or enjoy the schadenfreude of his downfall. Sixth Sense is quality. Unbreakable is interesting. Signs is a well-made thriller whose third act developments I reject like a date with Amy Winehouse. I left that one angry. As I did The Village.

Spoiler Free

So after reading about the alleged 'twist' before hand I went into this with lowered expectations. I went in hoping for a mediocre to decent B-movie and ended up somewhere between mediocre and eehhh. The Happening starts out strong, the first 10-15 minutes provide some real excitement and leads one to believe this may just be a decent flick after all. But as we move past the first reel the movie loses any hope of matching the opening sequences. First off the acting is terrible, I don't care if that's what Shyamalan wanted or not, it really brought the picture down. Zooey was good but has done much bettor, Walberg was wooden and laughable, while Leguizamo was just awful, as for the rest of the cast they're just kind of there pretending to act. Second the direction went from passable to inexcusable. As the film played on the story became weaker and the shot selection and scene staging became very amateurish. Of course I did find it sort of enjoyable watching Shyamalan forget how to direct. Third the 'twist', it is interesting in and of itself and in the hands of a much more talented writer and director could have been the foundation for a really solid movie. But in M Night's hands its just a wasted idea. The film is just kind of there, not really doing anything or serving any sort of purpose, except maybe to serve up severly mixed metaphors for our impact on the planet.

Grade D

Can I ask you something, Mr. Pink?

Do you work at the theater or something? It seems like you watched every theatrically released film..

(if so, good for you though )

This may come off as rude, as I'll never know the real truth, but there's little doubt in my mind Pink fakes some of these reviews. There's not even a twist in the Happening.

frenchy, one could argue that not having a twist, was the twist.

anyway to elaborate on my previous post, there are some good individual shocks. Such as when the boys get shot (a scene which fucking annoyed me, tbqh, why the fuck did the kids have to be fucktards?), and the old woman smacks the girl out of nowhere. the lions eating the zoo keeper was disturbing. and when they drive the car into the tree that was quite wonderful to see. there are also some decently funny moments to be had.

but like I said. the acting here, is really bad. so bad, it takes you out of the film and makes you think what the fuck went wrong. because basically it was a disaster movie about a killer plants, with graphic death scenes.

some scenes are really far too long and serve little purpose to the storyline. A good example of this is at the point where they meet the US soldier, and the bit where John Leguizamo leaves her daughter with them, and the scene that preceeded it where all the train passenger ran off in cars. Didn't they travel on a train. How did they all have cars apart from our central characters? It made little sense.

The more I think about it, the more i want to hate it.

He prolly meant plants as one. For it *is* a twist for people who only saw trailers, or nothing.

Juring;
To answer your question I'm a manager at a movie theatre. So yes, I get to see just about every theatrical release with the added bonus of getting paid to watch most them.

French Man;
I never fake a review. I simply provide my opinion on the films that i've seen. You're free to either agree or disagree with my opinion. I simply put it out there. Also, I never review films that I haven't watched as its dishonest. And I do know the Happening doesn't have a 'twist' in it like his other films allegedly did. I just didn't mention that it was the plants causing the event to happen because I wanted the people on this site who haven't seen it yet to experience the film for themselves semi-spoiler free.

Ahh...my apologies then

Well, I didn't despise it. I thought Lady In The Water was a bit of a disaster, to be honest, but really wanted to give Shyamalan the benefit of the doubt with The Happening - which from the trailers seemed like a real return to form for him. Unfortunately, it's still a major disappointment, providing audiences with some of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes of "suspense" in recent memory. With the exception of the opening sequence, I felt that all of the suicide sequences were poorly executed and often ridiculous. The scene with the lions had the audience I saw this with howling with laughter, for example. And every scene with the old woman just didn't work at all and gave the whole film a really campy feel. Many scenes didn't make sense as well (such as the moment with all the cars that was already mentioned). The acting ranged from mediocre to awful. There were really no standouts here, but the fact that three incredibly talented actors deliver some of their worst performances in this film shows how truly mediocre Shyamalan's screenplay really is. Mark Wahlberg is alright and probably the best of the cast, but Zooey Deschanel is surprisingly awful - delivering a completely emotionless performance. John Leguizamo is wasted in a thankless supporting role, and the rest of the cast is pretty much unanimously terrible. Granted, the more comedic bits of dialogue in the script do work and I thought the cinematography was great. Plus the film was never boring and pretty much consistently entertaining (even when it was provoking chuckles more than scares). But the bulk of it felt so random and pointless, and for a supposed thriller I thought it was completely devoid of scares or suspense. I'd pass on this one. It's a good time, but not necessarily a good movie. C

This won't have good word of mouth either. Judging by the amount of laughter that was heard in my screening, you would have thought this was meant to be a comedy.

Not terrible like LITW, and not brilliant like The Sixth Sense.

C+

It was interesting to see the car scene in action after watching it filmed over the span of 5 days...They used about 4 different shots to make it and like a little kid I sat there wide-eyed as the scenes were blended seamlessly into one shot.

Now for the rest of the film...

I think critics are taking unfair shots at Shyamalan. I think some people here are as well. I feel much better equipped now that I've seen the film. True, it isn't a masterpiece. True, in Shyamalan's still relatively small canon of films, this ranks either second or third-to-last. I'd say it's undoubtedly better than Lady in the Water (and critics who have said it isn't have to be the ones with the biggest agenda, because even if one disliked this movie it is clearly better assembled), and is within striking distance of both The Village and Unbreakable. The Happening is great in its first 45 minutes to me, while the two aforementioned films are great in their first hour and a half, but while the Happening's final 45 minutes show a drop-off in quality, the final half-hours of these two previous efforts almost ruin the films themselves.

There is an undeniable amount of B-movie cheesiness in this film, and I think it would be a mistake to take it as amateurish and unintentional. For the most part, Shyamalan knows what he's doing here, as does Wahlberg, Leguizamo, the hot dog guy, and the old woman, but the rest of the limited cast is lost. Deschanel is pretty bad, and the little girl isn't much better. Wahlberg's problem is not his acting here, but more of the role itself. It's safe to say he is miscast, but I believe he still does a decent job with the material given, and I felt emotionally connected to him enough to sustain my interest in his character. Leguizamo I felt was the strongest link in the cast, especially when he is about to leave his daughter, and it is a shame he isn't used more.

The humor in this film was unexpected, but usually worked. The audience went along with it, and while I'm not a laugh-out-loud type of person, especially in movies that aren't primarily comedies, I found it amusing to an extent.

Surprisingly, my favorite part of the movie is it's welcoming attitude toward B-movie campiness. It never gets too silly, but it manages to stay scary while poking fun at the concept of the film itself. Betty Buckley is my prime example. I loved her character. At times, she had good dialogue (recall her comment about not caring about the world because it does not care for her), but also had great moments of insanity that not only amused the audience, but elevated the situation to a point where you had no idea what to expect from her. The slapping of the girl going for the cookie was a brilliant moment as well I feel.

Most death scenes worked, but at times this felt like a rushed film, as I agree if it's going to be R-rated Shyamalan might as well keep that camera right on the victims. (The lion scene in particular comes to mind, which I found decent, but could have been better) The passing of the gun was brilliant as well.

To conclude, the film is sprinkled with moments of tension-filled brilliance, with many gaps in between of serviceable-to-below-average stabs at drama. Clearly the biggest fault of this movie is the dialogue and character development, as I can easily see this being a movie rivaling Signs if one cared more about the two main characters' relationship.

For those who don't know much about the film or its plot before viewing, I think the whole phenomena of what's "happening" can be somewhat murky as well, although that might be a better thing, I don't know. I wasn't too happy with the eccentric scientist explaining a lot toward the end either. Seemed too easy. As in the script, the old woman conveniently mentioning the secret slave escape room was pretty lame as well, as it was much too convoluted.

I think it would be a lot easier for critics to give this movie more praise if Shyamalan simply didn't write it. Even if they credited a fake person. Because this film's only distracting problem is its script. (A big part, yes, but still not the only one) The actors for the most part I feel were directed to act the way they did, and so I'm holding back on the criticism there, except for Deschanel. Once again, she sucked.

The original script did a better job of explaining Buckley's death, as I don't think the movie explained it at all.

Spencer Breslin really got the short end of the stick when it comes to siblings and Shyamalan movies, eh?

Overall, a fine mix of horror, tension, camp, gore, and cinematography. Far from brilliant itself, but full of redeemable moments.

B+

EDIT: The word "happen" or "happening" was uttered at least 15 times in this movie, probably its worst problem. Seriously, it was the worst part of it.

And for some reason, maybe because I've seen the previews so many times, I just laughed when after all those deaths it cut straight to Wahlberg and his fascination with bees.

EDIT EDIT: Maybe I just don't ask a lot out of my filmmakers, but I think Shyamalan also deserves some credit for still being able to create tension and scares without always resorting to the LOUD NOISE or PERSON WHO APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE BUT IS THANKFULLY JUST A FRIEND! He's still got a knack for that.

OMG Frenchy, we basically had the same review yet I was smart enough to give it a C-.

I welcomed most of its cheesy qualities (as most seemed intentional and fit well) and was very entertained, so I couldn't really find a reason to give it a bad grade. In addition, I was a big fan of the score.

EDIT: The difference lies I think in what we expected. I had read the script already, so I knew of what was coming for the most part. Maybe you're more forgiving to a film when you already KNOW the script is below-average, but at least what's carried out on film is better than what you would expect given the material? I don't know...

I think actually we disagree on a lot more than you think

I don't know. You seemed very convinced months ago when they filmed outside your house that you were going to "like" this.

Yeah, and I haven't shyed away from the fact that I said this. BUT after the reviews I grew pretty wary, I didn't even see it at midnight like I had planned because my anticipation had already dropped. One could make an argument that maybe because I had lowered expectations I liked it more, plus I had a connection to the film that's hard to break even if I'm unaware of it. It's a weird B+, I'll admit that, because I've technically given "better" films the same grade. Basically, I liked the films idea, 75% of the time I liked how it expressed it, and I only fault it for the love story, which still isn't terrible in itself. I'd be a fool to say it deserves to be up there with Signs, the Sixth Sense, or any Hitchcock, but I have a feeling this will earn more respect as time passes. And by time, I mean 20-30 years.

Elaborate please, I'd like to know what you thought.

I think that is why he annoys me Signs and The Village has some real potential ruined by stupidity, if he just made a total crap movie ok, but to take what starts off well with Signs and ruin with the awful third act, ugh.

2/10 -> F

The Sixth Sense was great. Unbreakable was fucking awesome. Signs was boring and bad. The Village varied between great and good. The Lady In the Water wasn't bad. I still feel like it was a wasted opportunity. It could've been a great modern movie fable. It just lost something to make it's magic work on screen, but nevertheless it showed Shyamalan still had very interesting ideas. But The Happening is yucky yucky yucky.

It starts out great. Doesn't waste any time and it simply kills on screen. But from the moment Wahlberg comes on screen the movie is a disaster. I love the guy. He's one of the most underrated actors in my opinion, but he was so bad I can't even describe. And what the hell was with his voice?

Zoey was good though. She was supposed to be weird because her character doesn't like to show emotions, but with this happening she has to and its normal for her character to feel bizarre, but there is no logical explanation for the rest of the bizarre acting. It felt too weird to be intentional.

The main problem is that there's actually no story or nothing. Shyamalan never explores a great idea. It's just random events one after another that are put for the sake of shock value (the scared kids that were with them suddenly suddenly start acting like barbarians and get violently shot - WTF?!?!). The movie is too long and drawn out.

The ending (interview/Paris) is a disaster. He should definitely ask for somebody's help with the next movie. He got a nasty habit of destroying really good ideas.

I wish it wasn't me that had to point this out, as I've been defending the film a lot, but both the manner in which the boys die and the ending are completely different in Shyamalan's original, untampered script.

Post of the year!

Worst movie I have seen since Solaris!!

The only reason I didn't walk out is b/c I was waiting for the standard twist ending, but there is none. Killer plants, nuff said.


F

Well, I loved it.

Probably my favorite film so far this year. I've avoided The Village and Lady in the Water, but I think I might need to check them out now.

M. Night may have an ego, but when it comes to his ability to build a scene with tension and craft, it's certainly not unearned. The construction workers walking off the building and falling off limp? The single-shot scene of the passing of the gun to commit suicide? The shots going off one by one in the distance as the group debates what to do? The reveal of the dead guys hanging from the tree, and following sequence that climaxes in the crash? These are all fairly absurd scenes, yet Shyamalan makes them work in a way that left me grinning ear to ear and slightly disturbed deep down.

Alas, his script doesn't live up to his directing job, between the horribly underdeveloped infidelity subplot to that random and pointless scene at the boarded-up house that served no purpose other than to off the two teens, yet I didn't really care in the end. I enjoyed the shit out of it.

Suckit, haterz.

***½

You have that script?

Good thing I knew about the plants before walking in because the only thought that would've been going through my head is, "it's fucking plants?" So I guess that didn't bother me much, but still it's about killer plants. The acting is awkward at best. The scene with Wahlberg talking about plants, hitting on a boy student, the kids getting shot, the old woman, and the entire sequence with Wahlberg and Deschanel talking to each other from house to house are great unintentional humor. The hot dog guy is funny. The biggest problem with the movie is that we're given no answers. Nothing really happens at all. Nothing is developed at all. Now of the characters, none of the subplots (especially the infidelity thing). So there are a lot of problems with the film, but I'll admit I was peeking through my eyes a couple of times.

- C-

Edit: The death scenes are creepy too. Passing of the gun, falling off the roof, old lady smashing her head through the window, and the car scene are great. Lawnmower is awesome just for it's cheesiness. The main reason for such a low grade? I never want to watch this film ever again. Ever.