by Kevin Powers

Created on: August 05, 2008   Last Updated: September 22, 2008

Although M. Night Shyamalan's new film THE HAPPENING is not his best it is a step above from the abysmal LADY IN THE WATER and one of the better written films of the year. In the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS (1963), an event is happening in New York, which starts off in the parks. It seems that a possible biological weapon has been released by terrorists and is causing people to become disoriented before they kill themselves. Many people start to flee the city where it seems, at first, that it is an isolated incident.

Elliot and Alma Moore (Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel, respectfully) travel with Julian and his daughter Jess (John Leguizamo and Ashlyn Sanchez, respectfully) outside the city where they think that they will be safe but when the train that they are riding is forced to stop in a small town in the middle of no where they soon learn that the terrorist threat has spread to other big cities with no sign of stopping. Now they must find a place where they will be safe of the threat while also hoping that they will find a way in which not to become one of the victims of the tragic happening.

Like all of Shyamalan's previous film the global tragedy that is the backdrop of the film is only just that a backdrop, as the strained relationship between Elliot and Alma's marriage is the true driving force behind the film. Shyamalan does a great job with presenting audiences with real people faced with an extraordinary and seemingly random situation and he goes a long way to comment on the tragedy that was 9-11 as well as the concerns of Global Warming and other natural disasters. Unlike his previous films there is no twist and turns that can get in the way of the story. What Shyamalan uses instead is the brutal and at times graphic nature in which people kill themselves to bring home his point.

This is Shyamalan's first Rated R film and he makes great use of it when he needs to. The film could have easily become gratuitous but he knows when to step up the graphic nature of the deaths in the film. In fact, he brings an art to the death scenes not seen since a Hitchcock film and that's what drives the terror and suspense in the film.

I think audiences wanting a good suspenseful drama will be very satisfied with the film even if it doesn't have the twists and turns and those audiences looking for a Shyamalan film can trust that this film has superb acting and the spirit of a Shyamalan film without all the storytelling snafus present in his previous film LADY IN THE WATER.

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