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The Happening (2008)

Director: M Night Shyamalan

Time Out rating

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51 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

M Night Shyamalan’s mix of modern ecological fable and ’50s sci-fi paranoia is not a happening thing. At first, a great deal happens, then nothing much happens for quite some time, then something so underwhelming happens that one is left wondering, ‘Did that really just happen?’

Since the surprise success of ‘The Sixth Sense’, Shyamalan’s ambitious but increasingly frustrating films (‘Unbreakable’, ‘Signs’, ‘The Village’) have been all build-up and no pay-off. ‘The Happening’, likewise, has lots of clever cinematic sleight of hand but no actual magic trick.

Philadelphia high school teacher Elliott Moore (Mark Wahlberg) is quizzing his students about the mysterious disappearance of millions of honey bees, when reports start emerging of a possible terrorist attack on New York’s Central Park. Together with his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), fellow teacher Julian (John Leguizamo) and Julian’s 8-year-old daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), Elliott flees the city on a train. But it stops at a tiny rural station: ‘We’ve lost contact,’ explains the guard. ‘With everyone.’

Vague, speculative news reports now suggest that an invisible, airborne ‘natural compound’ has induced mass suicides in densely populated areas. Does our ecological abuse of the planet have a nasty sting in the tail? Have plants instigated a targeted, coordinated attack on their number one enemy?

John Leguizamo suggests that Shyamalan’s ‘fanciful nightmares’ reflect the post-9/11 fear that something world-shattering might happen at any moment. Witness the shocking scene that echoes newsreel images of people jumping from the stricken Twin Towers. Sadly, for all his ill-focused Revenge of Nature eco-babble, Shyamalan lacks the courage of his apocalyptic convictions, so the film’s flabby (anti)climactic scenes are a virtual re-run of ‘Signs’, in which an external threat re-cements fragile familial bonds.

Author: Nigel Floyd 2008-02-26 14:55:56

Time Out London

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User reviews of this film

usman khawaja said...

Posted on Jun 14 2008 07:58 mark wahlberg rescues this well conceived and ably directed mystery thriller which is afflicted with a load of suicidal maniacs as well as some basic flaws like the collapase of the north -eastern u.s almost isolated from the mainland in an incredible manner only possible in fiction ,as everyone watches on televisions people are dying all over the place and some nutty and paranoid explanations are being offered,toxins and terrorists are in forefront.
exploiting the 9/11 in a rather mushy and inappropriately vulgar manner for some adrenaline kicks ,shyamalan has designed a sporadically interesting treatise on american paranoia but it is a gimmick and any larger vision that assimilates into corporating good cinema is only partially present in pieces.
the eerie vegetation and the insouciance of the suicidal masses is praise worthy but the sangfroid with which the calculated massacres are executed are vile,if not tasteless.
there is a chilling terror imbued to some sequences and the end is almost the red herring but it reeks of implausiblity ,though much superior to his last 3 efforts which were some private myths badly transferred to screen.
i hope he can improvise on this because it is adequate but nothing special ,except for the awesomely talented and charismatic wahlberg,he is a phenomenon and deserves much better ,
watch it for marky mark and some well executed sequences .
the satire on government cospiracy theories and bio-warfare is getting too cliched even if true and is boring as cinema ,
this could have had a little more suspense easily like the birds by hitchcock but then MNS has a long way to go before he will even get a fraction of that mans vision ,
wyler,kubrick,hitchcock,kazan,welles,wilder are not within reach of spielbergs and shyamalans .
go see HULK -this WEIRD movie is a rather waste of time other than wahlberg and he should start acting in things which can do justice to his immense talent and persona -
better then the lady in water but then anything would be better then a personal bedtime story written by a 2 year old as a weird myth with the worst sfx ever ,
syamalan take a break as you are not UNBREAKABLE .

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Pulomius said...

Posted on Jun 14 2008 00:04 A deeply deeply terrible film. Abysmally directed with laughably wooden acting. Went to see it in a packed cinema in Bath. The audience were simply laughing at it in an entirely negative way. Plenty of people walked out shaking their heads. I am a real fan of M Night's earlier films (6th sense, Unbreakable, Signs) and thought The Village was bearable but this is one plummet too far. If he produces anything else I shall treat it with extreme suspicion before contemplating spending a penny on seeing it.

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Taylor said...

Posted on Jun 13 2008 21:25 ive just been to see this. It was audaciously bad. It was utter rubbish for crying out loud. Im insulted and i feel robbed of my money i paid to see it. There was no plotline at all it was just spontaneous suidides for two hours. Me and my friends were laughing at it. I think this will you allow to see how the trailer was manipulated. The eerie thudding on the wall of the house and that amn looks terrified? Its an old senile woman headbutting it outside. what the hell is that. This film, in my opinion, was a disgrace to the director. Good points a few scary creepy bits and a tiny bit of mystery but this is outweighed by the stupid plot and some guy thinking "hmmm how many random ways of suicide can i fit into this film?" as always il say see it for yourself but dont say i didnt warn you.

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James Smith said...

Posted on Jun 11 2008 16:44 really scared me, great concept, M.Night returning to form.

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chezza said...

Posted on Apr 21 2008 09:51 i love this and i love those walhberg men (GOD DAMN WHO WOULDN;T)

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Naustodamus said...

Posted on Mar 11 2008 21:37 Intriging..Could this be the pr- Arrmogedon film to prime the masses for recompence?

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