The Happening (DVD)
Movies, Two Stars — By trench on October 18, 2008 at 4:55 pm | 29 VisitorsWhat has happened to the great M. Night Shyamalan? The once promising film maker is now running on vapors and seems to have completely lost his mind and screenwriting savvy. His work in the films The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were extraordinary. Signs and The Village? Respectable. Lady in the Water and The Happening? Appalling!
I had really wanted to enjoy this movie. The premise was unique and intriguing, and as Roger Ebert had put it, “a wake-up call from nature”. However, the execution of the script was terrible and the acting was wooden and disjointed. I could not believe how terrible the dialogue was, and how horrible Mark Wahlburg performed. (hopefully he will redeem himself in his latest film release Max Payne)
Yet, despite its overall mediocracy, you have to love the environmental message behind the film. The human race has destroyed and abused our planet for far too long and Mother Nature wants her planet back. Go Green or DIE! haha
Synopsis:
It begins with no clear warning. It seems to come out of nowhere. In a matter of minutes, episodes of strange, chilling deaths that defy reason and boggle the mind in their shocking destructiveness, erupt in major American cities. What is causing this sudden, total breakdown of human behavior? Is it some kind of new terrorist attack, an experiment gone wrong, a diabolical toxic weapon, an out-of-control virus? Is it being transmitted by air, by water.. how?
For Philadelphia high school science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) what matters most is finding a way to escape the mysterious and deadly phenomenon. Though he and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) are in the midst of a marital crisis, they hit the road, first by train, then by car, with Elliot’s math teacher friend Julian (John Leguizamo) and his 8 year-old daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), heading for the Pennsylvania farmlands where they hope they’ll be out of reach of the grisly, ever-growing attacks. Yet it soon becomes clear that no one–and nowhere–is safe. This terrifying, invisible killer cannot be outrun. It is only when Elliot begins to discover the true nature of what is lurking out there–and just what has unleashed this force that threatens the future of humanity–that he discovers a sliver of hope that his fragile family might be able to escape what is happening. – MOVIEFONE
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I have mixed heritage of Chamorro, Filipino, and Japanese and I currently reside on the beautiful island of Guam. My interests include critiquing films, eating out, import cars, gaming, web design, MMA, and bodybuilding. I'm also a die-hard fan of both the Los Angeles Lakers and San Francisco 49ers. I hate bandwagon fans!
22 Comments
I liked The Village more. Far better acting. Nothing happens at the end of this movie. Its weak.
And Signs was fraking great. I’ll take that over the Sixth Sense any day. Signs has more going on during its run time than the Sixth Sense does.
Film-Book dot Coms last blog post..The Incredible Hulk Alternate Beginning
@Film-Book dot Com – The Village was decent. Sixth Sense is still his best film IMO. I really didn’t realize Willis was the dead guy until the very end. It hit me like a freight train.
I was curious about this one but it always seemed like it would be missing something. Glad I didn’t bother to see it in the theatre. Speaking of Mark Walberg, are you going to see Max Payne?
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@fragileheart – I want to see Max Payne and I’m usually good at getting tickets for opening nights, but i’ve been swamped with work it isn’t even funny. lately, its been easier just to que up DVD’s and watch them here at home.
The Happening definitely fell short of expectations. The only thing I kind of liked about it was that it was funny in a few spots.
@ndo – It definitely did. I hear from word of mouth that Max Payne sucked badly. So much for the hype eh?
I probably will go see Payne anyway just because that Russian Bond girl is hot. :)
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@Film – After hearing about how bad Payne is, I have no faith in films starring Wahlberg anymore. I still want to catch it, but at bargain price of $4.25 which is our early bird special.
I just watched it last night. I enjoyed it. Typical M. Night though. The ending is left to your own imagination :o)
@Ivanhoe -The ending left too much to the imagination.
Even if Payne is bad, I haven’t lost faith in Marky Mark. It’s only 2 in a row. Many actors have had more than 2 bad movies in a row. He’s still pretty talented. He just needs to be more picky about his roles.
Dude. Tried contacting you through myspace on the design of your site haha. Anyways hit me up @ my email if you get the chance. But as far as “Signs” one of my favorite movies. The acting and story line in that movie is superb! :) Everyone in the theatre was laughing watching this movie though… it was horrible, but it did make you laugh… in one part (dinner table/fake food) you will notice that the boom mic drops down within view… everyone lost it when we saw this haha.
Anyways, awesome site… and very agreeable review.
-john
@John – Too bad I returned it. Maybe they updated the movie because I didn’t notice the boom mic.
OT: I emailed you back. thanks.
Thanks for the review! I am going to watch this soon on DVD. After reading your review, I am going to approach it with lower expectation.
AsceticMonks last blog post..Always: Sunset on Third Street Review
@AsceticMonk – Should be fine with a lower expectation. I just really expected better from M.Knight.
OOOOHHH You have a new plugin that creates pages for your comments don’t you? And I know what you mean about DVDs vs going out to the movies. I feel ya!
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@fragileheart – Its a plugin called paged comments reg. Been using it for almost a year now. I added it because I had several posts with over 2000 comments which led to long load times.
Haha yet another plugin to add to the 40+ that I have installed!
@fragileheart – I really needed this plugin because a couple of my posts would take over 2 minutes to load while waiting for the 1000+ comments to show up. IT was bad. Glad you are using it.
This movie was horrible. Aside from the “ladders” scene, this movie was bad inside and out. From the acting to the ending. And Zooey is way too deadpan. She needs to get over that. Marky Mark should stick to the tough guy roles, it’s the only thing he’s good at. And what is up with his whining? Kinda reminded me of The Big Hit (although I do love that movie)…his acting I mean.
M. Night is losing steam. Lady in the Water was ok then this piece of crap…i dont know…