by Viv Corridor

Created on: June 27, 2008

OK, first let me say that "The Happening" is NOT as bad as you've likely read. Yes, I read all the reviews that basically said M. Night Shyamalan has lost his mind and finally produced the stinker that will sink his career. You know, the ones that said "The Happening" is not only HIS worst movie, but one of the worst movies ever. (I tend to think those reviewers never saw "Gigli" or "Message in a Bottle" and so don't really have a good basis of comparison for saying a movie sucks.)

I went to see "The Happening" anyway because, well it's M. Night Shyamalan and I've seen every one of his flicks on the big screen since "The Sixth Sense." There are millions of worshippers like me who will go see this movie just because it's M. Night Shyamalan. And therein, I think, lays the heart of the problem. If anyone else had made this movie, I don't think critics and the public would be bashing it quite so viciously.

In brief, the movie revolves around a phenomenon a "happening" that is inducing people to commit suicide in some very grisly ways (hence the R-rating, the only one of Shyamalan's movies to get the rating). Elliott (Mark Wahlberg), a Philadelphia high school science teacher, goes on a spiritual journey and physical jaunt through the Pennsylvania countryside to keep his loved ones safe while trying to discover the cause of the phenomenon.

This movie is definitely worth seeing. It's got a thought-provoking ecological message, a lot to say about human nature in times of crisis, and some very good performances from Wahlberg and John Legiuzamo (one of my favorite under-rated actors). And pay attention to Betty Buckley who arrives late in the movie.

You've probably heard the story is dull, and I can understand how many people would think so. There are no explosions, no high-speed car chases, no profanity, no nudity and frankly not that much gore. (And what gore there is, while pretty creative, isn't the kind modern movie-goers enjoy. You know, the kind they can feel comfortable laughing at.) How in the world Shyamalan thought he could make a summer movie without at least ONE of those blockbuster elements is truly bewildering to me. He's not guilty of making a bad movie; he's guilty of seriously misreading what Americans want in a summer blockbuster.

"The Happening" is a thinking movie, as are ALL of Shyamalan's films. Like all his work, the movie is built on an underlying message and you have to pay attention to glean what that message is. Unlike his previous films, however, there is no punch at the end, no "Ah-HA!" moment when it all comes together. We've come to expect that from Shyamalan from the revelation of Bruce Willis' life-challenged status at the end of "The Sixth Sense" to the true nature of the community in "The Village." That payoff isn't present in "The Happening," and critics and fans are crucifying the writer/director for it.

If "The Happening" truly fails as a movie and I don't think it does it's because the writer/director overestimated the maturity of his audience. After five successful films, he thought his audience had grown up enough to NOT need that final bonk over the head that sums up his movie's message and delivers a final adrenaline spike. Apparently, he was wrong.

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