The Happening is M. Night Shyamalan's eco-tinted thriller, detailing a horrific one-day event in the north eastern United States. It's plot is simple: nature gets pissed at humankind, somehow it makes us kill ourselves, and some people try to escape. The details are never disclosed - both the scientific and philosophical nature of the happening are left ambiguous. We really don't need to know how, or why; we only need to know enough to get the narrative rolling along, and in this small detail the film is a success; less exposition is often times good exposition. Too bad the film fails in every other department. M. Night throws away an interesting premise, and stuffs his film to the brim with one baffling decision after another.
The biggest crime of all is that, for a thriller, The Happening is simply not thrilling. It is, however, dull, lifeless, and unengaging. There is absolutely no tension save for the first opening moments, and even these are only slightly interesting because M. Night is, for the first time, working with an R-rating. However, these moments are only interesting because I thought the director was mature enough to stay away from such cheap and blatant shock tactics. That this is his first R-rated film is a fact being touted ad nauseam, it's just too bad that it also ranks as one of his most childish efforts.
With an R-rating, M. Night could have explored the nature of humankind's relationship with nature in a mature and interesting manner. He could have used a more socially charged narrative to create a controversial thriller, especially considering the timeliness of the narrative: the amount of green awareness floating about now is unavoidable. But instead, he uses his new found freedom to show some silly scenes of self inflicted pain and violence. Yes, some of the suicides in the film are brutal, but like bad special effects these moments call attention to themselves, seemingly screaming, "LOOK! M. Night is making an R-rated movie!" These moments do not add any real tension, emotion, or life to the film; they are empty thrills that cheapen an already insipid script.
Yes, I think I finally agree with the M. Night naysayers: it's time for the writer/director to stop writing and directing his own scripts. While Lady in the Water didn't have a fantastic script, it was at least goofy and absurd, and I actually enjoyed the premise quite a bit; I found it rather charming. There is nothing fun or engaging about The Happening's script - nothing. It is so bad as to be baffling, and contains such choice lines as:
“I see you eying my lemon drink.“
“You should be more interested in science, Jake.“
“Come on, buddy. Take an interest in science.“
“We're so much the same, Jess. I don't like to show my emotions either.“
“You know, hot dogs get a bad rep. They gotta cool shape, they got protein.“
And no, context does not lessen the insipid nature of these lines. The script is also full of mind-numbingly stupid character actions. In one such sequence a bunch of people are on a train trying to get away from the happening. The train is cruising along putting distance between its passengers and the infected area, when suddenly the train stops. Everyone is forced to get out and refused reentry - the train has reached a premature final destination. Mark Wahlberg's character asks the train conductors why the train has stopped in the middle of nowhere, and the conductors tell him its because they've lost contact with everyone. WTF?!?! I didn't know trains were powered by communication.
But you know what's even worse than the script? The acting. Holy crap is it bad. Zooey Daschanel is a bad actress. Really bad. She just doesn't possess the power to emote. In this film she is atrocious. Every line that falls from her wooden lips is cringe inducing. Mark Wahlberg can be a good actor, but here he is miscast and poorly directed. Everything he says is annunciated like a question? His voice raises in pitch at the end of every sentence? He sounds like he is talking to a bunch of children? It's simply terrible. It's a perfect storm of the wrong actors, in the wrong film, with a bad script, and poor direction.
It's really unfortunate, this film. It doesn't possess a single distinguishable quality, and this negative review brings me absolutely no joy. The film is slow and dull; its a vapid thriller with no thrills; it's poorly written and acted; and the whole thing feels phoned in by everyone involved. Perhaps that's why M. Night's signature cameo is reduced to text message on a phone. Even he didn't want to be in this disaster.
