The Happening

The name M. Night Shyamalan used to cause excitement and anticipation, but not anymore. I wish The Happening proved Shyamalan had the mojo again, but it’s just not good enough, and makes me think he has exhausted his best ideas.

Mark “Don’t Call Me Marky Mark” Wahlberg stars as Elliott – a high school science teacher in Philadelphia. One morning, the country is rocked by what appears to be a terrorist attack on New York City. Some sort of toxin has been released into the air, which is causing a mass number of people to commit suicide. The panic spreads as similar attacks and suicides occur throughout the Northeast, including Philadelphia, so Elliott, his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) and his buddy Julian (John Leguizamo) flee the city hoping to find shelter someplace out in the countryside.

Can they find safety?

Who is behind this horrible attack?

Can they be stopped?

What’s the twist?

Is there a twist?

Sadly, The Happening never achieves the level of thrills and chills you might be hoping to find. Shyamalan, who also wrote and produced the film, reduces The Happening to being a lame homage to melodramatic 1950’s disaster movies (only missing Charlton Heston), but the movie is so bad and weird it’s more like an umbrage to those types of films. Since all of the actors are offbeat and hitting the wrong tone at every turn, I have to blame Shyamalan for directing them to be so forced and stiff. This makes it impossible to get wrapped up in the story, especially since the story is so non-existent that you want to start mocking the actors on screen as they comically react to what is happening around them. This movie might have succeeded more as a parody.

The Happening drags on and on and on as you wonder how Shyamalan is going to find a way out of this predicament his characters are in. It’s not the worst idea I have ever seen, but the execution is dreadful as Shyamalan tries to force us by sheer will to be intrigued and scared, but how can we be scared and intrigued by constant shots of trees in the wind and the kind of score you would find on The Late Late Late Show circa 1955?

Even worse, the studio seems obsessed with promoting The Happening as “the first R-rated movie,” from Shyamalan. Why does this matter? Is that the best anyone can say about it? Unfortunately, the R-rated graphicness doesn’t add much to the story or movie other than a few moments of shock value.

I know I have said this before, but it’s time for Shyamalan to branch out. He needs to challenge himself by directing someone else’s work, or some different genre to get his creative juices flowing. How about M. Night Shyamalan’s Captain America? M. Night Shyamalan’s Get Smart?

The Happening is rated R for violent and disturbing images.