Started strong but did not go anywhere.

Rating: Null/10 (24 June 2013)

Let me begin by saying that I am a fan of Night Shyamalan and quite several of his films are among my favorites. I loved the 'Unbreakable' and the 'Village'. I also thought 'Signs' was a very very interesting film despite some flaws. The 'Devil' (for which Shyamalan wrote the story) was also a noteworthy experiment.
The 'Happening', however, misses the mark (and quite badly so). It is a movie dealing with an unexplained epidemic spread in the northeastern United States pressumably caused by plants/trees. The epidemic forces the movie protagonists Elliot and Alma (the couple played by Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel) to take the train from the Philadelphia central station and reach safety somewhere in the interior of Pennsylvania.
I admit the movie started out strong and had a very eerie feeling. People started losing their minds and doing totally unexplained things including killing themselves. Initially authorities speak about terrorist attacks releasing chemical weapons but soon it becomes clear that hidden forces of nature are responsible and science cannot provide an answer.
About 30 minutes from the start I thought the film started to run into problems and it never recovered. Plotwise we expect (as audience) to understand and appreciate the danger and its origins (at least to some degree). Here, however, the story did not lead anywhere: the actors walked aimlessly in the countryside with nothing meaningful to say, with the (still) unexplained happenings not making much sense. Some of the dialogue was also becoming silly, e.g. when one of the characters attempted semi-seriously to speak to a plant failing to realize that it was plastic as if it mattered. It was a pity given the talented director and actors involved. A 6/10 from me.