The Happening

Went to see M. Night Shyamalan's new flick last night, The Happening. While by no means a very good movie, it did have a few moments of that tingling, unsettling atmosphere that Shyamalan established in his best work in films such as The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. Perhaps what's most disappointing in this film is the lack of narrative momentum or climax. Without giving too much away, the film starts in Central Park in New York City where suddenly all activity has come to a stop. Then one by one, people start killing themselves. One area the Fox marketing team has punched up in the promotional campaign is that this is Shyamalan's first R-rated film. The film gets its R-rating in the first 10 minutes as we see a woman stab herself in the neck with a hair pin, and then we get a disturbing reminder of images from 9/11 when we see construction workers hurl themselves from the top of a high rise construction site. I've always admired Shyamalan's early work because of his restraint from such things, but in this film, the blood and gore flow. As the news spreads about the mayhem in New York, everyone assumes its some kind of biological terrorist attack and the paranoia level increases. We cut to Philadelphia (where all of Shyamalan's films are shot) to high school science teacher Elliot Moore played by Mark Wahlberg. On Elliot's chalkboard is a quote attributed to Albert Einstein that says: When the bees disappear, mankind will die within four years. This serves more or less as a clue as to why these "attacks" are occurring. When Philadelphia learns what is happening in New York, Elliot and wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel) along with best friend, Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) get on a train to Harrisburg. With everyone on the train glued to their wireless devices watching the unfolding events (where one person with his I-phone shows other passengers video of a man being torn apart by lions at the Philadelphia Zoo) the train abruptly stops at a rural Pennsylvania town because the conductors have "lost contact with everybody". Stranded without a car, Elliot and Alma take Jess while Julian hitches a ride with another group to find his wife in New Jersey who he fears the worst has happened. Elliot eventually meets up with a man willing to help them who claims all of what's happening is because of the plants. He believes the plants are releasing a toxin as a reaction of survival. It's all about natural selection. Alma believes he's crazy and doesn't want anything to do with him, but Elliot is intrigued enough to stick around. Soon, they're on the road only to be stopped again by the discovery of dead bodies on the highway and people hanging from trees. Elliot the scientist begins to theorize in his head how the "virus" works. Stay in rural areas, and stay in small groups of people. Because the virus attacks in New York and Philadelphia started in parks, Elliot believes large groups of people are bigger targets. Of course that theory goes to the wind (literally) when a neighboring group of people start shooting themselves. That's it! They've got to outrun the wind! If they can stay ahead of the wind, they'll avoid the virus. Being that we're in rural Pennsylvania, Elliot and Alma run into every oddball in the countryside. Two teens that have tagged along with Elliot are violently gunned down by unseen people boarded up in safe house and then they meet an older woman (Betty Buckley) at another house who hasn't had contact with the outside world in years. All of these encounters lead up to the real reason why Elliot and Alma seem immune to the virus. That part I won't give away, but I will say that it's a resolution that's rather cheesy and flimsy. It's this flimsy resolution that really takes the air out of the tension and makes the film less satisfying than it should have been. Unlike his past films where Shyamalan always has his patented trick ending up his sleeve, there are none here, which is a good thing considering how I didn't think it deserved a trick ending. There's no doubt that Shyamalan is a good craftsman. Working with longtime collaborator cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, Shyamalan really knows where to put the camera and how to frame shots to create tension. It's his script and dialogue that are less adept. Even in his lesser films (The Village) Shyamalan gets good performances, but here, most the cast especially Deschanel seem out of place. There's no real emotional connectivity to any of these characters because their performances are stiltled. This was a real missed opportunity because the talent involved would've made an unforgettable thriller, instead we get left with a lackluster work of mediocrity.
Cast:
Elliot Moore-Mark Wahlberg
Alma-Zooey Deschanel
Julian-John Leguizamo
Jess-Ashlyn Sanchez
Mrs. Jones-Betty Buckley
Frank Collison-Nursery Owner
Written and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Music by James Newton Howard
Edited by Conrad Buff
Director of Photography-Tak Fujimoto
Running Time: 91 minutes
Rated R for violent and disturbing images