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Plot: A paranoid thriller about a family on the run from a natural crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 28, 2008With this movie, I remember everyone saying that it wasn't really good. Or it wasn't as good as they expected, but I on the other hand thought this movie was really really good. It really made you think about the possibilities, that could actually happen in the future because we are destroying this planet. But anyways the point being, you should definately watch this movie, it is great...
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MCT:August 28, 2008This is a joke, right?
Let's get one thing out of the way- "The Happening" is unbelievably, impossibly, ridiculously, hilariously, inconceivably bad. Normally I would refuse to rate any film that had any good scenes or that was well-directed less than four out of ten, but "The Happening" has to have one of the worst scripts among recent big-budget Hollywood films. It's absolutely shocking how retarded the logic behind this is and how poor so much of the dialogue is. This script began as "The Green Effect", a tremendously poor (trust me, I read parts of it) script by Shyamalan that was soundly rejected and eventually reworked into "The Happening". Having seen the critical reaction to "The Happening" prior to going into the film I found myself pleasantly surprised by basically the first thirty, forty minutes of the film. It was nothing special but it had something going for it, Shyamalan's direction was top-notch, and Wahlberg was playing the sort of goofy science teacher I'd loved (and loved to hate on occasion) in high school.
Then the descent began. The bulk of this film is some of the most hilariously awful crap produced by a talented filmmaker since Schaffner's "Sphinx". Shyamalan, who was using close-ups and steadicam shots to frankly brilliant effect early on, begins to use the same shots to comical effect. There is one painfully, painfully long close-up of Mark Wahlberg pleading for time to think and then calling for his group to 'keep ahead of the wind' that is up there with Nicolas Cage in "The Wicker Man" in terms of hilariously awful acting. That scene may very well be the turning point in the film, with Wahlberg's acting becoming more ridiculous by the second, culminating in a performance that essentially wipes from memory all his tremendous recent achievements as an actor. I don't blame Wahlberg for this, I blame Shyamalan. Wahlberg claims Shyamalan tried to force him into real paranoia so his performance would work better. What happens here (no pun intended) is that Wahlberg ends up looking amazingly uncomfortable for the last hour of this thing and struggles to deliver any reasonable line deliveries.
Okay, I do have to credit Zooey Deschanel for making this movie watchable. Besides being amazingly, ridiculously gorgeous she is a fine actress and creates a sympathetic character (and a fairly well-drawn one at that- one of the few pros in Shyamalan's script). There's also the score: oh my it's gorgeous. Seriously, ignore this film and just buy the score CD by James Newton Howard- it's brilliant.
"The Happening" starts out well but ends up being an absolute embarrassment. I was prepared for a mediocre offering- perhaps a misguided effort such as "Lady in the Water". I was not expecting a disaster on the level of "The Happening". Its last forty minutes and especially its last ten minutes or so are among the worst I have seen in a long time.
Have you ever wondered if it was possible for a film to go from enjoyable to absolutely horrendous in the space of ten or fifteen minutes? "The Happening" is proof that it can, pardon the (intentional) pun, happen. -
MCT:August 28, 2008so interested idea but what he want in this movie
i think there somthing wrong in his mind (night chamalan) -
MCT:August 27, 2008
I loved this movie sooooo much. M Nigh Shaymalan is my favourite director and this movie is just great, its one of those fight for survival movies that i love. definitely see this!
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MCT:August 27, 2008Interesting idea. M. Night comes up with some of the weirdest thoughts. I really liked the goriness of some of the suicides. The crazy lady made me laugh. I did not like that M. wasn't physically in the movie-I looked for him the whole time. Joey wasn't really in the movie...
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MCT:August 25, 2008Whoever thought M. Night would regain some of his former glory with this film was absolutely wrong. With some horrible acting by everyone involved and a premise both ridiculous and over the top, this movie is down there with some of the clunkers that M. Night has made. Sure, it wasn't as bad as Lady in the Water, but some cool suicides do not a movie make. The stars I have it where basically for the suicides, especially the one with the grass cutting machine thingy.
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MCT:August 24, 2008
Oh how the mighty have fallen - Heed my warning, M. Night Shyamalan's borderline self-spoofing "The Happening" is a conceptual train-wreck. As a sci-fi disaster film, it's a total failure. It makes Spielberg's crappy "War of the Worlds"(2005) look good. It has become extremely hip to kick Night while he's down, especially since he has invited it with this film and the crumby "Lady in the Water", where he even had a film critic killed off violently while the character he played survived; this clearly mirrors his unintentionally obnoxious Messiah-complex. Still, I've always been willing to give this writer/director the benefit of a doubt. He's what happens when you convince an art-film guy that they're a people-pleasing showman like Spielberg or Hitchcock. He suffers from the dreaded ego-inflation that can follow major commercial success. Some fan boys have even likened him to the horrid Uwe Boll, the director of "Bloodrayne" and "Alone in the Dark"....Seriously? Get your film genealogy right children, just cause you've watched a few hip indies and listened to their director commentary doesn't make you Pauline Kael - A more warranted cinema comparison would have been to the young William Friedkin(The Exorcist) or Roman Polanski(Rosemary's Baby), similar wunderkind who fell off the commercial map (granted, for different reasons) after a few inspired and embraced features. At his best, Shyamalan is a highly skilled hybrid director with some very effective 'twilight zone-ish' films under his belt. I personally feel he'd benefit from going the independent Larry Fessenden route (director of "Habit" and "The Last Winter") outside the mainstream studio system. Then he could get some small personal projects made on his own terms, and ignore the demands of film critics and jaded Cineplex audiences. Sadly, I don't see him doing this in the future. "The Happening" has a B-Horror/Sci-Fi premise that sounds thrilling on paper, unfortunately it's carried out like a lame made-for-TV Stephen King adaptation. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a big King fan, but you know the adaptations I speak of). The interesting premise, excellent cast, and Tak Fujimoto's cinematography are all shamefully used to no effect. None of this movie's promising elements can cover-up for the director's horrid execution of ideas. Most of the scenes with potential to scare are rendered hilarious in an almost Mel Brook's way - the suicides are so elaborate and ridiculous that they invite loads of uncomfortable laughter. I felt like one of John Leguizamo's more memorable dramatic turns was wasted on this embarrassing flop. Betty Buckley's creepy old recluse character is strange enough to fit into a David Lynch movie and she is also utterly wasted. By the time she appeared, I didn't even give a shit anymore. It doesn't even bother me that this film has a meaningful 'green' message under the surface - hell, I usually embrace morally/spiritually/politically ambiguous passion projects by gifted filmmakers (it's no secret that cinephiles and pretentious allegory usually make cozy bedfellows) but this movie is just too damn sloppy to even be taken serious as a message-film or as escapist homage to classic horror camp. "The Happening" is one of the worst movies of 2008.
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MCT:August 24, 2008
I guess I should have listened to critics. This movie dosn't give you much of anything. It isn't entertaining and the acting is laughable at times.
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MCT:August 22, 2008
It was the best nature vs. man movie I'd ever seen. Though the acting wasn't that good, nor some of the dialogue, it was tolerable.
I thought the film was always interesting and I didn't think I'd laugh at a child being shot in the face, yet it was happening. :P -
MCT:August 19, 2008
Mr Shyamalan has back here .. I think this flick really suspenseful in its unique way .. u will never know what it was, but it already happening ..
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MCT:August 19, 2008
It was funny ! LoooL But i didn't enjoy it a lot. I was frustrated, i felt it was incomplete and somehow all and nothing.. like some kind of joke.. i hated the last part of the movie.. i got bored on theaters
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MCT:August 18, 2008Ugh. I hated this movie ever since I heard what it was going to be about. Zooey, this disappoints me.
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MCT:August 17, 2008*Might contain spoilers?!*
what a let down. I expected an awesome twist, and when the movie ended, it never came.
The fuckin trees were upset? come. on. -
MCT:August 15, 2008I saw it with my friend, i had no idea what it was about....and now im so gonna kill her for draging me to see it
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MCT:August 14, 2008
This movie has about as many ups and downs as M. Night Shyamalan's career in general. While the idea behind the plot is very original and ultimately quite believable, the flat writing, unsure acting and annoyingly predictable ending, ended up impairing its good potential.
However, unlike the case with Shyamalan's two preceding train wrecks, "Lady in the Water" and "The Village", I didn't come to regret my decition to see this. In fact, I might even go as far as saying that I enjoyed it in some respects. Because whatever flaws it may have, it's hardly the turkey that so many has made it out to be. -
MCT:August 14, 2008
I'd say this is M. Night Shyamanamalamian's first failure. The idea was great. But the execution...executed it. It just seemed bland. And the R rating, what a horrible idea! It simply allowed the director to throw in maybe 3 scenes of over the top and ridiculous violence. This type of violence completely ruined any creepiness this movie had. It's my opinion that Night should turn his focus back onto violence that happens off screen and is hinted at. That's what tweaks the mind. The last thing I have to say is about Wahlberg. 90% of his dialogue feels like it is directed at 10 year old characters.....?
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MCT:August 14, 2008
I really liked the main storyline & the happening scenes are good imo the opening sequence for example but the script is awful & the characters seem really silly I mean the way they act and talk and their interaction, oh and Mark Wahlberg & Zooey Deschanel are just terrible with their annoying perfs
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MCT:August 13, 2008
It was ok with good performances by the lead actors mark wahlberg and zooey deschanel but made me long to the days of six sense with was about 400 percent better...
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MCT:August 12, 2008
Not your average shyamalan movie but it's not that bad as in its more like a fable... story with a moral... Many people didn't like it but I think it was good
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the movie revolve about nature proving to humans that its far more powerful, by a sudden toxic attack. just for a day. though they didnt conceal the facts properly, its fun watching it
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MCT:August 11, 2008
Not the best M. Night Shyamalan film but definetly a good movie. By far the darkest of his films. . . It was scarey and a little creepy to me.
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MCT:August 10, 2008
At first I thought M. Night Shyamalan was just getting worse, but now I think about it this movie isn't actually "that" bad. The problem with The Happening is just that it's just the same as every other M. Night Shyamalan picture. You know the "happening" will be explained by some supernatural force, even if it is unusually ridiculous and terribly illogical in this case. The ending is also particularly pointless which leads me to believe all of this movie's problems are down to shoddy writing rather than anything else.
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MCT:August 10, 2008
I didn't see much to hate about it. Mark Wahlberg is a slight miscast and some of the dialog was a bit cheesy. But other than that...
Overall i think people just expected more of a traditional M. Night Shyamalan film. -
MCT:August 10, 2008
Even if a little irregular and with bad acting throughout, the film confirms Shyamalan as the filmmaker of paranoia.
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The Happening Recent Reviews
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Comments
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victorgaganposted 27 days ago -
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This movie has an extreamly boring storyline and doesn't make much sense. I don't know what sort of impact it was suposed to make but I was left wondering if it was suposed to be a scary movie, a drama or a comedy. I was not scared or moved at all in any part of the movie. The movie wasn't funny either with the exception of a few moments but it just seemed like a piss take. I wouldn't recomend this to anyone, unless you want to be bored to death.
posted 38 days ago -
As opposite as it may be to MOST people.
I loved the film! It was enjoyable aswell as disturbing. It's a strange but lovable film. It was something I've never seen before and something worth watching again!!. I loved the acting, the script, the plot whatever - I loved every bit of it. For me it was a suspenseful heart pounder and breathing teaser. By the end of it, it leaves you in deep thought (Some may not have felt this same reaction though?). Can't wait for the DVD. Mark Wahlberg is a fantastic actor. He is really diverse and is starting to really flow into drama (which I think is nice!) even though we love him in action.
Oh and I don't know if this is considered a spoiler but... What is REALLY scary about this film is WHAT YOU CAN NOT SEE. It's something alot more deeper than mare psychos with a knife or zombies eating your body. It scares you because it's ---- undefinable. "We'll fail to acknowledge that there's forces that work beyond our understanding".posted 54 days ago -
It was ass...okay script...wrong direction & wrong actors who messed up their characters...it sucked
posted 55 days ago -
Good movie and if you didnt like it u sudnt have watched it cause it obvious its about supernatural stuff and since im the guy who belives in ufo's ghosts etc i loved the movie!
posted 55 days ago -
Ive had some time to process this, and by far this is Shyamalans WORST by far. I happenen to be a fan of his, but I must say....wow, what went wrong? Wahlberg is normally a strong, captivating, leading man! He plays a teacher, but he just doesnt 'capture' this character..he was miscast. And whats up with Deschanel? ALOT of close ups on her face, and not too much more...The BEST acting came from John Leguizamo, in my opinion, he should have had the lead. He would have made this an emotional movie...which I think is what Shyamalan was going for.
posted 62 days ago -
Personaly I thought this was the worst acting I've seen since the first Saw movie. In other movies the actors are good actors but not in this movie. Overall, if you feel like wasting about 2 hours and about 10 bucks then go ahead and see this movie!
posted 64 days ago -
the happening i think is a really good movie
the best of this time
love the story and the plot evertyhing was greatposted 66 days ago -
There....there are no words. Just terrible. Awful, to say the least. The only thing worth seeing in this movie is Mark Wahlberg (who was gorgeous, by the way). Other than that, if you want to go the movies and laugh your @$$ off, go see this movie. It had my BFF and i in stitches the entire time.
posted 69 days ago
