The Happening (2008)

The Happening. I generally distrust stereotypes especially when their bloated and exaggerated manifestation was applied in film. This is why i don't like parodies. Most of them weren't smart enough and trapped in a mobious loop of 'stereotypes'. What is stereotype you ask? Well, all blondes are stupid, that's one, all arabs are terrorist, that's two, and you get the idea. Now, here's another stereotype, M. Night Shyamalan's films hid the real key to the plot and not revealing it until near the end. And for once, for me at least, he suffers the consequences of this stereotyping.

All movie goers my age must know that little ghost film called "The Sixth Sense". If you're my age, claiming yourself as a movie goer, AND never seen "The Sixth Sense", then i demand you to relinquish your title of 'movie goer' cause you don't deserve to name yourself among one. "The Sixth Sense" was a BOMB at the time. It puts Shyamalan's name on the map, and arguably sky-rocketting the stardom of a boy named Haley Joel-Osmend. His follow up to the film a brilliant, my favorite Shyamalan's film that redefines a genre was "Unbreakable". Then the questionable and debatable "Signs", the political allegory "The Village" that found small love among the crowds (i was one of the small crowd, by the way), and finally the disastrous "Lady in the Water". All this films on his resume bore one small common thing that has since become Shyamalan's stereotype. This little secret key-plot hidden and only be revealed shortly before the end.

It is entirely my personal fault that i entered the theater for "The Happening" with this stereotype of Shyamalan's in mind. Therefore, i had expected that something big, something that packed a "wow", some kind of a slap in the head toward the end. Almost during the entire film, i keep guessing and guessing and guessing and expecting. Then, finally, when it comes to a wrapping up and it turns out that the film wasn't really a "wow" i was devastated and disappointed. This film is almost a waste it won't stand a chance against The Incredible Hulk, also opening this weekend. And this is coming from a man who actually found love to "The Village".

The film opens in Central Park, New York (why does it always have to be New York?). A whisper of wind was its sign. An incoherent speech was its first symptom. And a suicidal tendency was its next and final act. The first few minutes was actually fun, to say the least, we see a woman punctured her own neck, and we see construction workers suddenly feels like they had wings and started to jump off the building on their own accord. What had happened? How does it happen? How will our brandished survivors, Mark Wahlberg and co. stayed alive? Would they stay alive until the end? All these questions immediately floats into my mind, and again, given Shyamalan's stereotype i had going through in the last couple of passages, it should come as no surprise if i expected at least a "wow" or a "gasp" from this film.

The film was going in an uneven pace throughout. Some scenes stood aloft, some "boo" moments worked very very well, but for most of the time, i had trouble to keep my interest afloat. It has too little points to make me actually attached into it. The closest sentence to describe this entire film that i could come up with was, "it feels like a B-film with uneven pace, and card-board acting. And oh, is that a boom-box visible, or am i wrong?" (it was on the scene where Elliot sits with Josh in a dining room. I thought i saw a boom-box on the top-left of the screen. Tell me if i'm wrong). If the film has high points, it was probably its scenes that involve death. They're pretty effective.

For all its worth, the film DID gave an explanation to "The Happening". And of course, i won't reveal it here, it is best if you experience it for yourself. One thing for sure though, the said explanation wasn't even close to pleased me and i'm very sure that i'm not the only one with such grudge in the theater last night.

My rating: *1/2 / **** - Even with *1/2 points, i was being generous for i love M. Night Shyamalan and wasn't quite ready just yet to banish him into the abyss.