Review: The Happening (2008)

Review Written By: Gaius Bolling

Release Date: June 13th, 2008 (in theaters) & October 7th, 2008 (On DVD) 

Have you ever had a great idea in your head that you just couldn't quite explain to those around you? The concept sounds so great when you're developing it but once you spread it to others, your vision just doesn't translate well. This is what I believe transpired with "The Happening". I'm sure M. Night Shyamalan thought this idea sounded great on paper but the execution is a complete and utter disaster. What he has made here is something that will be mocked and ridiculed for years to come, which is disappointing since it all could've been handled much better.

 "The Happening" doesn't start off on the wrong foot, in fact the first few scenes are highly effective in setting up the epidemic. The Happening has an apocalyptic premise. Some kind of mysterious neurotoxin has been released in New York's Central Park, causing people to become disoriented and suicidal. They eliminate themselves in interesting ways, involving implements as diverse as knitting needles and lawnmowers. The airborne killer soon spreads throughout Manhattan, then expands to Philadelphia and Boston, and all around the northeast. What is initially posited as a terrorist attack may in fact be something else. The story centers on four individuals - high school teacher Elliot (Mark Wahlberg); his emotionally distant wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel); his best friend, Julian (John Leguizamo); and Julian's young daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). They escape by train from Philadelphia just before the epidemic hits, but find themselves stranded in rural Eastern Pennsylvania , fleeing from the wind and hoping to find a place of shelter in which to weather the storm.

 As stated earlier, the opening scenes are quite chilling. Seeing people commit mass suicide isn't for the faint of heart and this uneasy act is exploited for all its worth. If the film had maintained this level of tension throughout then maybe this film would've been worth something but after the first few scenes, "The Happening" begins to make several mistakes.

 The first mistake begins as soon as the central characters are introduced. From the start you can tell that Shyamalan has not created "real people". These are individuals that only exist in the realm of film and there is nothing identifiable about any of them. I'm not sure what he was going for but I would go as far to say that some of these characters are quite childish. They don't respond normally to real life situations which makes their reaction to this phenomenon highly unrealistic. 

The dialogue is another huge issue. Shymalan has never been great with dialogue but some of the lines here are so bad it's almost funny. For instance, once the apparent culprit of the film appears to be toxin that the plant and trees are giving off, Wahlberg's character decides to have a "we come in peace" conversation with a plant in a house. This scene induces so much laughter that it's virtually impossible to take anything else seriously after that. There are ways to make nature scary (If you haven't seen "The Ruins" definitely check it out because this is a scary film about nature turning against man) but Shyamalan does not know how to build tension with this premise. Shyamalan likes to compare himself to Alfred Hitchcock (and The Happening includes nods to The Birds) but, even at his worst, the Master of Suspense understood the importance of atmosphere. Shyamalan, on the other hand, fails to grasp that his constant shots of trees and bushes swaying to the promptings of the wind do not invoke the sense of dread he's hoping for. In actuality, there are times when these repeated images verge on self-parody. Significant chunks of The Happening might have been unintentionally amusing if the end result wasn't so sad and dispiriting. It takes great skill as a director to make viewers believe the wind and plants are to be feared, and it's evident that Shyamalan has overreached himself by a stretch. 

The actors in the film are completely lost. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are normally very good performers but they are saddled with so much bad character development and dialogue that they are simply fighting a losing battle. Wahlberg is the more embarrassing of the twosome because they try to make him a gentle science teacher but in all actuality they have made him weak and incredibly naive. This isn't a part that he can play convincingly, and for some reason, I think he knew that going in. The only actor who escapes this thing with his reputation intact is John Leguizamo who manages to pump much humanity and dignity into his underwritten role. 

I'd like to take some time to talk about M. Night Shyamalan as a director. He broke out onto the scene with The Sixth Sense which was a great character driven ghost story. Then he followed it up with the less commercial but effective Unbreakable which toyed with the convention of modern day heroes. Then the cracks began to show in his facade. "Signs" is certainly well made throughout, but it stumbled badly during the closing moments. All the tension he built up throughout the film was nearly ruined by the big "reveal" during the climax. By the time he got to "The Village" and "Lady in the Water" his self indulgence began to show. This is someone that clearly thinks his ideas are more clever than they actually are and I think after these last few failures at the box office, it's time for him to go back to the drawing board. I'm not denying his talent but I think he became a victim of his on success. "The Happening" is only his latest tragedy and if he's lucky he'll get another chance to redeem himself. 

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