The Happening film rating and review

The Happening (2008) Film Rating and Review :

Rating :

Acting – 3/10
Direction – 2/10
Screenplay – 2/10
Music – 4/10
Technique – 5/10

Review :

Just not happening

It is time for M. Night Shyamalan to stop trying to do everything himself. The Happening, we are sorry to say, just isn’t happening, and there is only the Pondicherry-born writer-director-producer to blame for it.

Shyamalan’s sixth sense for what made a watchable, gripping, creepy film has deserted him about three one-man movies ago.

The only remnants of the skills he once demonstrated considerable control over are a deft hand in hiding far more than he shows, and a visual sensibility that uses far fewer special effects — almost none here — than most other film-makers of the apocalypse genre.

That’s right — this is an apocalypse film. The Happening is about the world potentially coming to an end. And who is the villain? It could be terrorists releasing biological weapons in populated areas. It could be a problem with the government’s nuclear testing facility in the north-eastern United States. Or it could be the plants. Yes, that’s right, the plants. We won’t tell you which of the above it is, but we suspect that a follower of Shyamalan’s work will be able to figure it out for themselves.

And perhaps it isn’t even the villain that fails to create substantial chills — perhaps it is the mode of destruction that leads to the inability to strike fear into the hearts of yawning movie-goers: sitting in the hall, it is almost impossible to feel frightened of inhaling something that causes people to kill themselves.

Shyamalan may have realised this need for enhanced sinister intent, thus inserting into the action an old lady who may or may not be a murdering hag. Still not nearly sinister enough. And it is most definitely not fair to expect the audience to be afraid yet again of someone just because she keeps a creepy looking doll in her room. Shyamalan, Hitchcock you are not.

You may say that Shyamalan’s recent record should have shown us the signs that nothing good could come of this latest venture. But even The Village had its moments, and performances that justified sitting through it. It still had evidence of Shyamalan’s greatest gift — his mastery over silence in creating not only tension but character. But The Happening comes up horribly short on this front, largely due to his failure to lead his team. Mark Wahlberg — who showed what he could do in the right hands in The Departed — is a shade short of dismal, his dialogue delivery pitchy, forced and paper-thin. Zooey Deshanel has the too-big blue eyes that Shyamalan loves so much, but she is no Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village). And Ashlyn Sanchez, the little girl — yes, of course there is a little girl, Shyamalan wouldn’t have it any other way — is given little to do except run, whimper and whisper on a couple of occasions. We look to the man at the helm for answers. From his stars to his extras, nothing works: watch out for the construction workers who don’t even look up when their colleagues start dropping to their death from a highrise that looms over them. Aren’t they afraid of getting squashed?

That said, the script is the biggest letdown. “Mother of God, what kind of terrorists are these!?” Ooooh, lines like that were born to chill!

Shyamalan’s formula was a winner once, but he has sadly been too afraid to stray from it for too many films now. And this dooms The Happening by stripping it of its ability to do what any good thriller must — take you by surprise.

Coming from the man who made Sixth Sense, it can only be for lack of trying.

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