Not Much Happening in The Happening
It’s bold to title a movie “The Happening” when nothing happens. The latest installment from the formerly respectable M. Night Shyamalan is easily the dumbest movie I’ve watched since walking out of Highlander: Endgame nine years ago. It’s literally as exciting as watching grass grow or running from the wind, both of which constitute the hair-raising climax of the film. I’ll spare you the embarrassing story Night wrote to deliver his ham fisted, “let’s all get together and save the world before time runs out, guys” message, but I have a few things to say.
The Happening Does Not Live Up to Shyamalan's Former Greatness
When you watch a movie you expect at the very least to be entertained. For some it’s the subtly nuanced acting that does it. For others it takes Vin Diesel driving a Corvette off a bridge while streaming live on the internet. Whatever your deal, you at least demand a minimum of suspense, decent acting, or a few moments where you jump at the “buzz buzz—–WHooooosh” editing that’s now a prerequisite in any pseudo-drama. (i.e. Pulse, The Ring, The Grudge). The Happening contains none of these. Not only does it fail to entertain, educate, or frighten, but it tries harder than any film in recent memory to infuriate viewers by assuming they are ignorant and without taste. That’s the only explanation for the total lack of passable acting and the heavy handed, beyond stupid message that hits you over the head at every turn: “THE PLANET WOULDN’T BE DOING THIS IF WE TREATED IT RIGHT.”
M. Night Shyamalan's Fall From Grace
What little credibility Mr. Shyamalan had left after 2006’s Lady in the Water is gone. Not only did he commit career suicide with this latest disaster, but he dragged Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg down with him. Wahlberg is a former bodybuidling rapper, a less-juiced, slightly more respectable John Cena who’s best cast in roles where you need someone who can take care of business. He’s not a soft spoken science teacher with a tucked-in shirt who offers pseudo-insightful comments on the environment. Zooey Deschanel is one of the most beautiful women to grace the silver screen, and was adorable and endearingly quirky in more than a few movies, but whoever wrote her lines should be ashamed. If she’s not mumbling some generic damsel-in-distress one liner, she’s staring wide-eyed as Marky Mark fumbles about, pretending to know what’s going on: “I’m a science teacher. You can trust me.
ENV1103: Intro to Environmental Studies for Film Majors: Professor Shyamalan
At the core of this film is the notion that we’re ruining the planet with pollution but no one cares so the plants are mad and we’re all in trouble. We get it, Night. An episode of Captain Planet got that message across more subtly than all ninety-one minutes of The Happening, and didn’t have to resort to the blunt trauma of Shyamalan’s jarring dialogue. I realize as much as anyone that we’re destroying the environment and oil companies are trying their best to cover it up, but as a filmmaker your task is foremost to make enjoyable films.
