Movie Review: "The Happening" (2008)

To start, this type of movie is not my bag, baby. But...my wife is a big M. Night Shyamalan fan and she won the coin toss. (Note to self: find weighted coin).

The Happening is an eco-thriller with uninspring characters, awkward situations, and a vague, yet annoying and preachy message...but does it really deserve this type of criticism?

I quickly classified this as an eco-thriller upon leaving the theater. However, this can be discounted somewhat if Shymalan's other movies are put into context. Having covered the supernatural (Unbreakable), paranormal (The Sixth Sense), alien (Signs), and mytho-folklore (Lady in the Water), it certainly isn't unnatural to focus on nature as the next adversary.

I find that the movie does raise a couple interesting questions. Considering the church's traditional view, does committing suicide unconsciously deny access to eternal life? Moreover, if the answer is affirmative, is this a portrayal of an attack so devastating that it not only takes one's physical life, but their spiritual life as well?

However, most moviegoers view flicks to be entertained rather than explore deep philosophical questions. In catering to that crowd, I can say the following: Don't go.

Many critics will be tough on Shymalan simply because he is who he is. M. Night Shymalan has not continued to be the darling that the Hollywood dynasty wanted. Instead, he's paved his own path, which sometimes means "chose to produce movies that don't pander to the masses." Certainly his movies have paved their own path, but I believe that for the most part, he has remained true to himself...until now.

The Happening suffers from numerous ailments, which, in their totality, are nearly as severe as the epidemic portrayed in the film. Let's start with the title, which my wife has changed to "Scary Wind" in her references. The Happening seems more akin to a scene gone bad on a live show (ala Man on the Moon) than a widespread neurotoxic epidemic (then again, perhaps this is a film gone bad).

The characters are uninspiring. While Mark Wahlberg seems to rise above the fray to an extent, Zooey Deschanel and Ashlyn Sanchez seem wholly disconnected from the film and tend to act in ways that one would never expect given the circumstances.

The plot of the film, which centers around a toxin that is used as a weapon by the bushes and trees around us, targeting humans specifically, is an interesting premise, but that is where it ends. The remainder of the film is a collection of running, screaming, and a spattering of gruesome death scenes necessary to claim the movie's "R" rating.

The "R" rating itself is a point of contention as well. It's obvious why the film qualified under this category, but what is truly disturbing is why the writer/director/producer chose this route. Clearly, the movie could have been done without such explicit scenes without loss of continuity and with some creativity, loss of impact. However, that drives us to the heart of the issue. The movie fails to be clever on any level and instead bashes you over the head with disturbing scenes of senseless death and suicide simply for the shock value.

I sincerely hope that this movie will be the exception and not the rule with regards to M. Night Shymalan's endeavors. His ability to tell a story and the way he tells it can be interesting given the right conditions. In order to flourish, however, he will have to surrender his film dictator role and start collaborating with other creative talent.

On the $10 movie scale, I give this film $1.75, but only if you like adding disturbing death scenes to your memory banks.

Other news:

It is not my intention to do all movie reviews all the time on Wednesdays. It just happens that we're starting out this way. I'll try to avoid another movie review next week, although I am not ruling out a "review" of some sort.