The Happening (R-2008)

M. Night Shyamalan's latest moves away from the late plot twist and move more in the direction of straight science-fiction. "The Happening" actually is more of an environmental cautionary tale, but is much better than the most extreme example: "The Day After Tomorrow". One of my favorite Shyamalan techniques is used in this film: He likes to take what most of Hollywood would consider a large-scale story and tells it through the eyes of one small group of people. This worked well with alien invasions in "Signs", a superhero movie in "Unbreakable" (possibly my favorite Shyamalan movie) and works well here in "The Happening". As the movie begins, an epidemic of senseless suicides is occurring, starting in New York City. The initial assumption is that terrorists have unleashed some sort of toxin into the city. As this phenonena spreads, it is considered to be a full-scale attack. Mark Wahlberg plays Elliot Moore, a high school science teacher in the Philadelphia area, who flees with his family when the epidemic begins to impact Philadelphia. They quickly find this is spreading faster than they can flee and begin to realize this is not a terrorist attack, but instead a response by plant-life to the threat that human beings pose. It is an entertaining movie and an interesting (if far-fetched) concept. Mark Wahlberg, who is usually very good, but his acting is just weird in this. He delivers all of his lines in some sing-songy tone as if everything he says is a question. A lot of the advertising makes a big deal that this is the first "R"-rated Shyamalan movie, but I'm not sure what the big deal is. There is little gore. In fact, the scenes that probably got him the "R" rating were probably the people jumping off of buildings early in the film. I am not shocked or offended that he showed this, but post-9/11, I found it to be that much more disturbing. If you have been avoiding this one from the bad reviews, you may want to check it out. It is not nearly as bad as you may have been led to believe.

Grade: C+

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