The Happening
M. Night Shyamalan’s greatest talent, I think, is taking a brilliant cinematographer’s camera and pointing at something which is comprehensible but just off kilter, and doing it just so, in a way that makes the image and the content gel into an iconic Moment. In the preview of The Happening, we have a shot up the side of the building of men just walking off it to plummet to their deaths all around the camera. It’s alarming, simple, elegant, and effective. He did it in The Sixth Sense, and Signs, and The Village, and Lady in the Water, and he does it here. The problem is, with every film that goes by, the iconic moments never diminish, but the “filler” (you might have learned about it in English class by this name: “story”) gets weaker and weaker.
In The Happening, a group of characters we don’t know or care much about react semi-robotically to a truly terrifying event taking place in their area. After the real-life hysteria about a few people getting envelopes of anthrax in the mail back in 2001, you would think that the events that occur, er, the happenings, in this movie, would drive everyone gonzo with abject terror. Even a dirty bomb has a rational source, a series of ingredients and procedures to make it possible. This Happening is very difficult to intuit and more difficult to swallow (wash it down with a Message, if that helps) but it’s not very hard to be afraid of.
Shyamalan uses his deft hand creating some more “oh my god” moments throughout the movie, genuinely shocking and well-executed. When he’s not wowing us with that, he has awkward dialogue (”you like hot dogs?”) and worse character motivation. One thing I did take away from this movie is how badly I want to see Mark Wahlberg, a material-elevator if there ever was one, in an intentional comedy. There were scenes which it was clear that the filmmaking team meant to horrify us but which got – I am not exaggerating – gut laughs from my sold-out audience. For a reference, I am talking the YouTube moment. Too many times we laughed when we should be shivering, checked our watches when we should be mentally helping the leads work out the problem. If you think it’s an airborne toxin, at least cover your mouth with a shirt, make an effort to look worried about it! If you think it’s the end of the world, at least loot something! And you, the faceless antagonist – you! Be consistent with your scariness, don’t make it come and go as you please!
It was frustrating to see what could have been an interesting post-9/11 Hitchcockian concept brought to bear with the same elegance as Sixth Sense and Signs, instead become a movie that would abort a new career or stall a thriving one. One of my companions was furious – furious! – at how terrible it was. The rest of us thought it was “meh” or “not good” but so much worse is out there lately…but now that I have chewed on it a bit, Night is (was?) a better filmmaker than this! This was inexcusable. I guess if he doesn’t even bother to put himself in it, maybe he’s just dialing in a contractual job. But that doesn’t mean you should waste your money on it.
When it comes on HBO, watch it for the photography and so you can see why Wahlberg should be in a comedy.
MPAA Rating R-violent and disturbing images
Release date 6/13/08
Time in minutes 91
Director M. Night Shyamalan
Studio 20th Century Fox
