The Happening Reviews

Woooooooooooooow.................

SPOILER:

so basically they were running away from:
- the wind
- chemicals in the wind

#WasteOfTime

Let's start with M. Night Shyamalan, i think that some of his movies are on, and some are of, he created a masterpiece and he fall down since that, the quality is getting worse and worse with each movie, but i think the happening is the place where all started.

The story, was dull, and had no imaginative, in fact it was very stupid, which leads me to the first question, at what point did Shyamalan think that his story is going to work? because such a story wouldn't cross the line of being boring even if it was executed by martin scorsese, never in my life that i actually watched a story and felt insulted by it, it was like Shyamalan was deliberately trying to make the audience feel stupid and he succeeded.

Now, the performances, to be fair, Mark Wahlberg was trying, but with such script, it's just too painful, i mean watching him squeeze his face to 'feel the moment' or 'make an appropriate face impression' was so painful, i decided to stare at the wall while he do that, and then comes Zooey Deschanel, who made a career being beautiful, but below that pretty face, comes nothing, no talent at all, i was insulted by her performance, which took the movie into a new level of suck-ness and John Leguizamo didn't help, he just took that level of suckness and maintained it.

Shyamalan did try to present an atmosphere, but it didn't work at all, the story was off, so it don't really matter what he does, it wouldn't work either way, instead, everything felt forced, like when he try to thrill you, it made it awkward, and when he tried to scare you, it made it even more awkward, and when he tried to make you laugh, i was already bored and out of my mind, which leads me to the 2nd question, at what point did Shyamalan thinks that it would be a great horror being the villains are trees?, and did he try to deliver a 'message' with this story?, it's like 'the trees will fight back against human treatment of nature' or something, which is like the new level of stupidity that haven't achieved before this movie.

Overall, it's just a bad movie, and it's not even 'bad that it's good' kinda thing, it was bad that it's insulting, because at that level of stupidity, you can't feel entertained, watching too many people scared of something that isn't scary was painful to watch, this movie wouldn't survive even if i watched it with 10 drunken friends, THAT'S how bad this movie is.

Wow! This film was so stylized filled with unique filmmaking artistry common in Shyamalan's films. The critics are wrong about this!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Some people label this as a "so bad it's good" movie, but I had a feeling I wouldn't be laughing that much at it. And I was right. But neither did it have me tearing at my hair, like Lady in the Water did. At the end, it just left me wondering, "What the hell did I just see?"
The plot is that a strange epidemic is causing mass suicide, which turns out to be the plants releasing an airborne toxin. Supposedly, it's because the plants see the growing human population as a threat and it's their only way to defend themselves. I know it's supposed to be an environmental message, but it just comes off as stupid.
The characters are stupid too – sometimes insufferably so. For example, there's a scene where a large group of people learn that the attacks are occurring in populated areas, but then they decide they'd be better off staying in big groups. Did you not just hear yourselves, you morons?!
I did laugh a few times, though. Like why does Alma feel that she cheated on Elliot just because she had dessert (yes, dessert!) with another man? And Mark Wahlberg, at one point, delivers one of the most outrageously awful pieces of acting I've ever seen.
Overall, I think the Rotten Tomatoes consensus says it best: it's just an incoherent and unconvincing mess. You just sit there watching it, going, "…What the fuck is this?"

My rating: 25%

good movie with a message..it's a shame it's not longer

My first impression of The Happening was just another film about a place where the people living there are being terrorised by a natural cause and/or a group of aliens so basically, I thought this looked like a cheesier version of War Of The Worlds. I was going to skip it but it was on DVD that a relative of mine had and I decided to watch it out of boredom and now I really wish I hadn't watched it at all now. There was nothing realistic about this film at all especially the fact that this airborne virus so to speak makes people commit suicide! That is quite possibly one of the dumbest ideas I have even heard of in my entire life!


After its very negative critical response and after its Golden Raspberry Award nominations, I really can understand why it was nominated for those awards. Despite, I haven't seen it yet, I can see Skyline receiving the same fate as The Happening did in terms of critical response, reviews and comments. I think the only way where people could like this film is the effects and the settings, not for the making of the film, the writing and definitely not the acting and unfortunately there are a lot of people who care more about how a film looks more than what it tries to bring out and express to the viewers and I'm afraid I can't give the makers credit for that.


Elliot Moore is a high school science teacher who quizzes his class one day about an article in the New York Times. It's about the sudden, mysterious disappearance of bees. Yet again Nature is doing something inexplicable, and whatever science has to say about it will be, in the end, only a theory. Scientists will bring out more theories, but no explanations, when a more urgent dilemma hits the planet. It begins in Central Park. Suddenly and inexplicably, the behaviour of everyone in the park changes in a most bizarre and horrible way. Soon, the strange behaviour spreads throughout the city and beyond. Elliot, his wife, Alma, and Jess, the young daughter of a friend, will only have theories to guide them where to run and where to hide. But theories may not be enough.


Mark Wahlberg, what in the hell has happened to you?! I thought you were an actor of selecting great films but obviously I was wrong. First you chose Max Payne which I let you off on but then you be part of a film that is even worse than that! You deserved that Razzie nomination and probably should have won it. That was more like a kick up the backside to open his eyes to be part of real films, not stupid crappy ones like this! I'm sorry but Mark Wahlberg as a science teacher? Just didn't work in the slightest. I did find Zooey Deschanel an underrated and quite talented actress until now. No, she isn't a serious actress like Mark Wahlberg is (well, actor) but it is common sense when a performer decides to be part of something that is actually interesting and took a lot of hard work. I do like John Leguizamo as the voice of Sid in the Ice Age trilogy but as far as acting goes in live-action films, he doesn't greatly satisfy especially in this one so he didn't exactly help the reputation of the film.


I'm sorry but Shyamalan really needs to wake up and make films that are actually tense and catches the audience's attention from start to finish, not boring them and making them fall asleep like he was achieving with The Happening and most recently did with The Last Airbender. I mean, for all we know, this could have been a dream that M. Night Shyamalan randomly had one night and decided to write a script for. Yes, there are some directors who do experience that but at least they actually make great films out of dreams they have. Examples are Tim Burton and Edward Scissorhands, James Cameron and Avatar and a few others. When I first read about the film, I instantly thought that the title 'The Happening' was absolutely dreadful and that made the film even more dreadful than it already is. The script was incredibly dull and it makes its mark as one of the cheesiest and most lame screenplays that I have listened to while watching a film.


Overall, The Happening is an absolutely shit film that Shyamalan can mark as another disappointment on his filmography. He's on a role at being a failure and, as I said, continued with The Last Airbender so lets hope that whatever project he will do next, he will show us what he really is great at (like another film as good as The Sixth Sense).

AHAHA! So bad it's good! Laughably bad dialogue, terrible acting, and an ending that doesn't make any sense! I was laughing my ass ass off the whole time!

The Happening seems to fall into the "either love it or hate it" category. I enjoyed the movie for what it was, a end of the world type movie. The movie followed The storyline follows Elloit (Mark Wahlberg) and Alma (Zooey Deschanel) as they try to escape some sort of airborne toxin that is spreading across the northeast of the United States that causes people to die, often in unconventional ways and in groups. At first they are unsure as to the cause but as time goes on they slowly figure out what is causing the toxin but it may be too late for them to escape. To fully enjoy this movie you need to have an open mind and just enjoy the story. The cause of the toxin may be far fetched but this is a movie and at least the writers had some imagination and tried something different. This movie would best suit people that enjoy "end of the world movies" like "The Stand", "28 Days Later" etc. Try it out for yourself.

Look, I understand that people may be looking at this for entertainment purposes only, but try to look at the bigger picture. I thought this was an excellent movie! The theme may be a little outlandish, but the underlying message is what should be considered. I guess you've gotta be a treehugger to understand...but I loved it!