McCheesy's take on "The Happening"

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2008)

I don't know what the hell is up with the people saying that this film sucked bigtime or M. Night losing his touch, going downhill blah blah blah. This film was good that's that. Some people just hate M. Night so much that when they entered the theaters, their minds is set for one thing: this movie is bad. They didn't even give the film a chance, those Night haters weren't looking for the good things, they're looking for the bad. "Mark Wahlberg's weakest performance" this, "where the hell is the twist?" that. Okay, this may not be Night's best film ever (Sixth Sense for life) but this isn't his worst either (Lady in the Water still holds the title). This film is good, it may have its fair share of gaping plot holes or absurd sequences, but the film as a whole is good. Here's why: first, the acting. Mark's performance wasn't that bad, the critics had it all wrong. His performance was supposed to be that way, childish, immature and a guy who freaks out a lot. Remember the scene where he's teaching a class and then ducks when he sees the vice principal? Then there's this scene about the cough syrup thing which sounds like it came from a 10 year old and then there's the part where he freaked out and he says "Just give me a minute!", its all intentional. His character is supposed to be childish and immature because in the end, it will be a big factor for their survival. The same thing can be applied to Zooey Deschanel's character Alma. Alma is as childish as Mark's character Elliot.
So you see, the people who saw the performance and disliked it got it all wrong, it was actually pretty good. Second, the whole "Where's the twist?" bit. Okay, when Night made "Sixth Sense", the audience dug the whole twist in the end and they wanted more twists out of him, and so he did in three more films. They got pretty bored with the twists so Night stopped and made two twist-less films. And then when he made this film, with his infamous twist being a no-show, the people didn't like it mainly because the juicy twist isn't present. I swear when I saw the film when the credits rolled, I heard this guy saying: "Where the hell is the twist? Oh my, this movie is ----". A bit of advice to Night, don't listen to other people. Just follow what's in your gut because the people have different tastes and you can't satisfy them all so follow your instincts.
And lastly, the plants did it. In case you were wondering who killed those people. The plants were releasing toxins that's blocking some neurotransmitters in the human brain doing some bad stuff, fatal stuff into your body. I thought the plot was really good. Nobody has ever done a film about killer plants in the past 25 years, 50 years maybe. An original concept but people are just too busy bashing Night and putting his head in the gutter. I'm not a fanboy of his or whatever, I just wanted to straighten some things about this film. I know a bad film when I see one and this one isn't. Its too bad the majority of the people are Night haters.
7/10