A new movie such as this that has much potential in advertising its box office dates on television might have more problems in bringing things into proportion in today's crazy world turned up-side down. Selling a thriller such as this in today's market to a mass audience is now harder than ever since movie-goers are much more knowledgeable and fickle than ever before. It seems quite strange to think that an airborne virus or some other pathogen could actually turn you into some kind of violent, suicidal zombie. M. Night Shyamalan's attempt to make his first Rated R film with this movie, happens to do quite well in certain places. Mark Wahlberg remained quite calm and resolved at times during the crisis moments of this film. When people began falling off of building, it didn't sink in to my head that these people were actually doing this voluntarily committing suicide. I was thinking that they were just paralyzed and were unable to function. The movie gets quite absurd and silly at times in certain scenes. This tends to lend itself to lack of believability and credibility. The ending, which was very disappointing could have encompassed many other avenues and explored other various scenarios. The train scene was extra cool, but people would have acted much more crazy if they found out that everyone was cut off from the civilized world. I give this movie a rating of 3/5. IF YOU LIKE MY REVIEWS, PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO VOTE. FEEL FREE TO CHECK OUT MY OTHER REVIEWS.Read full review
You don't have to be a major film fan to realize that writer/director M. Night Shyamalan basically has created movies that slowly go less and less into his first works The Sixth Sense in overall quality. But when it was announced that Fox wanted him to make his first ever "R" rated picture, would that be enough to break him out of his never-ending slump? Nope. The Happening stars Mark Walberg as a high school science teacher who among everyone else in his Pennsylvania suburb hears that an airborne biological terrorist attack has landed in New York causing it's victims to lose control and find a way to commit suicide. As residents flee towards help, soon they realize that this attack has spread over the Northeastern portion of the United States and that they're right in the middle of it. But is this plague manmade or of a more natural kind? Could it be caused by nature itself? Will anybody know or care after watching this dreck?!!? I doubt it. While "M" and this film try to be all scientific-like interesting, it truly falls amazingly flat. To be honest, this is M. Night's absolute worse film. First, the infected all basically do the same thing which is babble for a second, walk backwards, and find some way to kill themselves, all the while looking like they are still in complete control. Another is the dialouge. While the acting isn't all that great to begin with, I personally haven't heard words written this bad since some kid named Anakin was breaking some pregnant chick's heart. At times I truly felt more for myself watching this than for the victims screaming at the sight of seeing a brisk breeze of air flowing ever so calmly in front of them. Oh my God, WIND!!!!! However, an "R" rating does mean something had to earn it and in a small way it has. Some of the suicides are a bit clever, and yes, even reach R graphicness, but there's just not enough of them to save this movie. In fact, M. Knight himself (through interviews and deleted scenes) cut a few himself, not in fear of the MPAA, but out of thinking less is more. But trust me, the more the merrier really could have helped this fart of a flix. The disc itself does have alot of special features including deleted scenes (that are terrible), documentaries, and also a gag reel (that doesn't have one single blooper....where's the gag?). But no matter what he added to this presentation, nothing could change just how sophomoric and painfully lame this film is. An amazingly bad movie, without any of the style this director made with his first three films, avoid at all costs. You'll never look at a wind-blown tree in a park the same way again. Because it will now forever remind you of this lame blowhard of a movie. (RedSabbath Rating:4.0/10)Read full review
Ever since the Sixth Sense and The Village came out, the mystique of M. Night Shyamalan and his knack for weird and twisted endings has grown. But those movies were years ago and now Shyamalan puts out things such as Lady in the Water and now The Happening. Let me say first off that when this movie came out you remember the previews? “Come see M. Night Shyamalan’s first rated R movie.” What other movie have you even seen where they emphasize the rating rather than the substance of the movie? They emphasized the rated R portion for a reason…to try and draw interest to an otherwise uninteresting movie. I came in to this movie with the assumption that it was going to have some crazy plot twist you didn’t see coming, but about a quarter of the way into the movie, it flat tells you what is going on. The opening sequence I thought was great because you have no clue what is going on and it is very suspenseful…after that it becomes a gore fest of crazy ways for people to die. It is a more of “hide your eyes because you don’t want to see how gross it is when he dies” kind of horror movie than it is of a classic Shyamalan “that was an awesome plot twist.” I also hate when movies try to add suspense to the movie by doing stupid stuff that normal people wouldn’t do. At one point in the movie, a parent having a personal and emotional phone call puts it on speaker phone for a crowd of people to hear…if you were crying and scared with a loved one on the phone, would you want everyone to hear what is happening knowing that everyone around them is dying? Give me a break! Another thing, I am not one to get into politics and such but I will point out that it feels like this movie has an agenda…You will know what I mean if you see it. Keep your opinions to yourself and let me enjoy my movie without trying to preach to me please. That goes for ALL politics in ALL movies…why can’t we have a movie that is good without it trying to push an opinion on us. Give me substance and plot rather than opinion and bias. Overall this was not Shyamalan’s best work. He needs to go back to the original days when we had no clue what was around the corner. Some people may love this movie but I hold Shyamalan to a higher standard and I was expecting better of him. Give this one a rental sticker and only buy it if you are a Shyamalan fan because I “Happen” to not like this one.Read full review
I purposely hadn't listened to any reviews of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening because I knew I'd see it no matter what. M. Night Shyamalan has gotten some harsh criticism in the past for movies like Lady in the Water, but I've always loved his stuff. While there were many reasons why the movie sucked, I'd have to say the main reason I didn't care for it was the acting. Zooey Deschanel had already proven herself to be a horrible actress in the tv mini series, Tin Man; but I usually like Mark Wahlberg. This was the first time I noticed what an incredibly bad actor he is. The movie did have John Leguizamo, who I like, but he was only in it for a very short period. After he was gone, we were left with some ridiculous excuse for a love story between these two horrible actors, given a horrible script and I started to wonder if M. Night did this on purpose. Surely, if one of his movies sucked, it's because he planned it that way. Maybe it's supposed to seem absurd, resembling some older absurd movies that he was fond of. I mean it's possible, right? I don't know, I just know that it was bad people, bad! I am so disappointed. Speaking as a M. Night Shyamalan fan, don't waste your money.Read full review
Features Actors: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, Ashyln Sanchez & John Leguizamo. Running time: 90 Minutes. DVD has special features. The concept behind “The Happening” is absolutely terrifying. The story begins one morning in New York’s Central Park. People walking through the park become disoriented, lost in thought, repeating things they have just said & taking steps backwards. Then, they start killing themselves by any means available to them. Authorities are at a loss to explain the events, but terrorism is not ruled out. When a similar attack hits Philadelphia, high school science teacher Eliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and his semi-estranged wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) – along with Eliot’s friend Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) – board a train for western Pennsylvania. The train stops abruptly in a small town because the conductors have lost contact with “everyone,” leading them to think their final destination has also come under attack. Elliot meets a man who owns a nursery, who suspects that the attacks are not terrorists but nature itself turning on man. Stuck in rural Pennsylvania, Elliot puts his science smarts to the test to stay one step ahead of nature, which is all around him. Whats happening is anyone anywhere is not safe. This movie was good, keeps you entertained and may put some thoughts into your head even after the movie has ended,would recommend to rent and to buy to anyone who is a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan.Hope this helps you decide.Please click YES at the bottom.Thanks for taking the time to read this! :)Read full review
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