In theaters. Rated R, 91 minutes. Trailer.
The knock on M. Night Shyamalan in Hollywood is that his ego is out of control and that he refuses to listen to constructive criticism. After his mega-successful debut The Sixth Sense (A-) and its lucrative but lesser follow-ups (Unbreakable (B), Signs (B), The Village (B+)) he declared himself the next Spielberg way too prematurely. Lady in the Water (haven't seen) was lambasted by critics and ignored by audiences, leaving Night to try and rehab his image via a cameo on Entourage (didn't work), and try and churn out another moneymaking thriller. With The Happening, Night has kept the franchise alive, but barely. Click below for more on scary shrubs.
The film opens with star Mark Wahlberg (Elliot) teaching a high school science class in Philadelphia when he is pulled out of class. Seems that an'event' has struck Central Park in New York City and the initial speculation is a airborn terrorist attack. After the kids are sent home, he and best buddy John Leguizamo make plans to take a train to Leguizamo's mom's house out in the country. Elliot argues with his girlfriend (Zooey Deschanel) and they get on the train, only to have it stop before they get to their destination. Seems the 'happening' is spreading all over after starting in places with lots of plants and lots of people. The passengers all disperse after it becomes clear that the Northeast is the only affected area.
The Wahlberg gang wanders the countryside, figuring out the phenomenon and surviving multiple harrowing situations and weird people. The resolution of the film is extremely unsatisfying, complete with ilogical actions from the characters and an uninteresting conclusion to the happening. Compounding the problems with the ending is the preachy environmental coda that hammers home the 'humans are hurting the earth, and the earth will fight back' theme, which is a dumb way to end an apolitical movie. 
The first two acts aren't bad, and I really enjoyed the performances of Leguizamo and Wahlberg. Shyamalan shows his considerable skill as a director with multiple affecting shots and set ups of the happening. The problem, though, is that we've been here before with him, but in a much better movie. The way the happening plays out and the weak 'relationship' between Deschanel and Wahlberg moves the movie to a subpar exercise, not a fun and thrilling movie. Its like his original imprint keeps getting fainter with each movie that comes. Like Wes Anderson, he appears to be stuck in a genre, which is bad for him. He (and Wes) need to take a cue from Paul Thomas Anderson (with There Will Be Blood) and get out of their comfort zone to use their immense directorial talent in a different genre and group of collaborators.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Happening - C+
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Agree that The Village and Signs get a bad rap. Lady in the Water is just too silly to go with. The "Happening" clips I saw on Letterman this week seemed pretty creepy. Too bad it comes with some bromide about Mother Earth. Hope to check it out soon.
I haven't seen The Happening yet, but already this seems like a good and fair review. M. Night has painted himself as a one trick pony. He hit a homerun his first time out and he hasn't been able to get past third since.
It's become hip for movie goers to watch his new movies, brag about finding the twist and then complain about how it wasn't as good as The 6th Sense....which he's made easy to do.
I don't even consider Lady in the Water to be part of his canon...a movie about nymphs called Narfs and grass dogs called Scrunts...ugh. It's a testimony to how good 6th Sense was that this movie got made.
I had a difficult time concentrating on this movie because a 5 year old sitting 3 seats away from me with his really responsible parents got freaked out during the PREVIEWS. Thanks to you guys, stupid selfish couple, I focused more on your kid than you did. I winced when he saw, oh, I don't know, one of the many suicide scenes including a guy being chopped up in a combine. Awesome choice on your part, next time feel free to rent something at home.
Post a Comment