Other people have enjoyed Shyamalan's output even less than me. I very much enjoyed his THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE, and, to a lesser extent, SIGNS.

Most people I've talked with hated THE VILLAGE and the LADY IN THE WATER--or whatever it was called. Awful movie.

To make a comparison, like the music of the group Counting Crows, the films of Shyamalan have gone steadily downhill--each one worse than the last.... but still somewhat enjoyable.

If Shyamalan doesn't reinvent and improve his screenwriting quickly, his movies will soon dip under the box office waterline to become exclusively direct-to-video releases.

Certainly we now know that Shyamalan is not the cinematic modern-day equivalent of Hitchcock that he was touted to be just a few short years ago.

He has jumped onto the new extremist religion: the anti-Christian pro-Environment "Green" bandwagon with this last film.

"The Happening is a terrible title for a movie, I was thinking, as I paid for my ticket to the Christie Digital Presentation at the Carmike Cinema box office. (Powers and Pulsar Drive.)

I went out to the movies alone that Monday afternoon, and I was the only one in the theater until, a couple minutes before the show started, three women, maybe in their thirties, walked in.

If you've read the book "Hollywood Worldviews," by Brian Godawa, then you will know where I'm coming from as I analyze this film.

The premise of the film is as insulting to humans in general, as it is transparent: the Environment, (specifically trees and vegetation), is taking it's revenge on a mostly non-Environmentally friendly humanity by exuding a deadly virus into the air that causes people to commit suicide in spectacular ways. (Our "heroes," the Environmentalists, are granted immunity by their "God," (The Environment, of course.

Yes, I find this an aggressive and offensive and politicized premise, indeed.

I have just described the entire film, whose main source of suspense is wind blowing in the tall green grass. Very ineffective. (But very pleasing, I am sure, to the studio execs counting the cost to make this film.)

To add to the offensiveness that something like a TWISTER never had, Shyamalan makes the only really creepy, mean and villainous character in the movie a Christian woman who has a wall in her house covered in Christian crosses and paintings of biblical scenes.

After showing a wall full of her Christian art, this evil creepy Christian woman smashes her head into the windows of the house repeatedly, killing herself. To me, this was the very image of the Shyamalan's contempt for Christianity.

Yes, believe it or not, I find that offensive.

(In the fairly recent film, SUNSHINE, the villain aboard the spaceship is also a fanatical man who believes in God.)

The strong believers in God are almost always the bad guys in films nowadays.

Certainly in the Christian world, there are crazies and hypocrites and televangelists (no wait, I repeat myself), but, mostly, religion and faith, even looked at socially, are positive elements in people's lives.

The is no real suspense, drama, or other deep meaning in THE HAPPENING.

I'd avoid it like you would avoid a flesh-eating virus...

Unless, of course, you enjoy that sort of thing.

Some complain about the lack of logic and that it was not believable: um, it's a sci-fi movie, people! You know, like Men in Black or Jurrasic Park? The story had an originality to it! It's like after I watched The Village again, some thought it was such a creative film while many disected and lost the point.

Draggy: You have ADD, don't you.

Bad acting and bad script: I thought both "wooden" acting and script added to the movie's eerie feel. I have to admit that the script had me thinking about high-school plays again but this film wasn't about brilliant script. I will also admit that I couldn't connect to the characters' emotions during some parts of the movie. And I still think that added to the film's tone and feel. I'm not even a confirmed fan yet. I'm still trying to figure him out, especially after Lady in the Water.

The story was fresh and I liked the simplicity.

It's a Shyamalan film alright.

What Is It About?

'The Happening' is a mysterious thriller about a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) who discovers that the area of his county has been infected with a killer virus.

All the living things, contaminated with the virus, seem to brutally take their own lives away. People kill themselves as if programmed to do so. The only explanation, for this, is the air travelling disease, which confuses the mind-changing human nature from attraction to live, to committing suicide.

Mark Wahlberg's character questions, if the plants are releasing deadly chemicals towards humans, or is there a bigger picture behind all of this?

While the only survivors try to escape the invisible death threat, less people make it alive.

How Was It?

The movie started with an impressive shock wave. Fierce suicidal scenes, have definitely interested the audience. Unfortunately there was a lack of creativity, with the rest of the movie, as it tumbled down without a remarkable comeback or potentially interesting phenomenon. As according to Rotten Tomatoes “The Happening begins with promise, but unfortunately descends into an incoherent and unconvincing trifle.”

Rating: Two out of Five Stars

Verdict

The movie was certainly something new to watch, but not something I would watch again. “The happening” was mysterious enough, although wasn't as psychologically challenging as I expected it to be. Actors, have done a great job, the chemistry between the main couple was a life saver of the movie.

 

This movie starts off as good as I could have expected, with a woman jumping to her death. Pretty cool for "Mr.Twist"'s first R rated movie. But it all goes downhill from there. Mark Wahlberg surprises me for a first in this as a terrible actor! Mr.Wahlberg is a definite box office draw, and his acting has done nothing but improve as his films progress, but in this Marky Mark seems as though he is trying to act, with an unrealistic personality at that. But acting aside, this movie seems to go nowhere as fast as possible.

Personally the real problem was that there was a major lack of action, it went from scene to scene with painfully tired escape/panic movie scenarios, with only the death scenes being of any real interest, and them being waaaay too few and far between. The filler consists of cliche'd romantic undertones, and an unimpressive feeling of being chased........by nothing at all. Seriously......they're being chased by the wind.

Long story short, this movie is bad. Very Bad.

For a movie called "The Happening", there's not a lot happening.