It's Not Nearly as Bad as So Many Say It Is

Rating: 7/10 (4 November 2008)

The Happening is a very pivotal film in M. Night's career. It has one of the most unique stories M. Night Shyamalan has ever presented. His other stories are very good as well, but most of them are based off of concepts we've seen in movies many times before, such as aliens or ghosts, yet are looked at from a slightly different point of view (i.e. Signs, The Sixth Sense). The Happening, on the other hand, is a concept I've never seen before in cinema. The entire movie has a very creepy feel to it, not in the sense of a horror movie, but in a completely different sense that I can't even describe.
I try to understand why so many people loathe The Happening, and overall I think the main reason is that it could have been better. I agree with that, but at the same time, I think many people blow the movie's flaws WAY out of proportion. The biggest flaw is Mark Wahlberg's corny acting. In most of the movies I've seen Wahlberg in, he's very convincing, however, in this film, he's not. There are parts that almost seem like he's purposely trying to overact, and it's frustrating, considering that he is the main character. Although at the same time, there are some very convincing performances delivered by John Leguizamo and the lady who plays the wife, which make up for Mark's poor performance for the most part. Another flaw is the mediocre dialogue, although it's not anywhere near the worst dialogue in a movie I've ever heard, as I have definitely heard much, much, much worse (every crappy horror movie ever made comes to mind).
If this film were directed by some new director nobody's ever heard of, then I really don't think it would have gotten nearly as many bad reviews as it did. However, considering that this is an M. Night Shyamalan picture, people were expecting a masterpiece. People are expecting an incline in the quality of M. Night's films, but instead, they're only seeing a decline. Storywise, I'd definitely say The Happening is an incline in Shyamalan's career, but when it comes to the dialogue and some of the acting, I would agree that it's a decline. The story, although great, is a bit of a challenging one that many people may be thrown off by, and this may be another reason why so many people have a hard time with this film. Keep in mind, however, those of you who haven't seen it yet, that the flaws of this film are really blown out of proportion by critics and are not as bad as they are made out to be.