Three Strikes...And He's Out

Rating: 3/10 (4 July 2008)

M. Night Shyamalan was once one of the most promising young talents in Hollywood. His films were dramatic, yet suspenseful. His writing was creative and unique. He produced one great film (The Sixth Sense), and two pretty good ones (Unbreakable and Signs). But then there was a "happening," and it wasn't plants killing people. No, the "happening" that I am speaking of is the total collapse of a promising career. It started with "The Village" (strike one). It did have atmosphere. The acting was good. However, it all built up to one of the most anti-climactic conclusions that I have ever seen. At that point however, I gave M. Night the benefit of the doubt. I mean everyone makes mistakes. Even Steven Spielberg created some crap early in his career (i.e. "1941"). But then came "Lady in the Water" (strike two). There was really nothing good about this film, although the acting was still pretty decent. This is, however, M. Night's worst creation. It honestly felt as if he wrote dialogue for the scenes right before filming them. At this point, I was a bit nervous. Sure "The Village" had a crappy conclusion, but most of what preceded that crappy conclusion was pretty decent. "Lady in the Water" was pretty much all crap. And finally, we come to "The Happening" (strike three...he's out). I had a feeling this was going to be pretty bad when the T.V. trailers started to market this movie, not by using M. Night's name, but in proclaiming how this was his first "R" rated film. My suspicions were, unfortunately, correct. This was bad all the way around. The directing, the editing, the acting, the screenplay (horrible dialogue which, in my opinion, led to the bad acting). The only reason I give this three out of ten stars, and rate it just barely above "Lady in the Water" is because, every now and then, there were some scenes that had a genuine creepiness about them. And that's just it. It is obvious that M. Night has talent. Somewhere, after wading through all the crap that was "The Happening," there is a guy who knows how to send chills up your spine. But I honestly believe that it's time for M. Night to lay the pen down, and start directing someone else's script. Is it too late? Well, as far as I am concerned it's three strikes and he's out. I will not shell out 9 bucks to go see a sub-par M. Night movie again. And that's a shame. Because this was once one of the most promising talents in all of Hollywood.