A good movie, but not Shyamalan's best

Rating: 6/10 (15 June 2008)

After being extremely let down by Shyamalan's last film, "Lady in the Water", I did not know if this movie would be worth seeing. Since I enjoyed "Signs" and "The Sixth Sense" so much I gave it a chance. I was pleased with this decision.
The happening has been advertised as Shyamalan's first R rated movie. I believe this is due to the pure shock factor this movie has. Through out most of the movie my jaw was dropping to the floor, not because of gore, but because of shock. This movie shows excellent portrayal of what real people would do in this situation. Despite the criticism, Mark Wahlburg has a pretty good performance as Elliot Moore, the science teacher. His part could have been written better, but he does a nice job of acting it out.
The reason this movie is not excellent? The plot. This movie does not have a clever way to put things together like in Shyamalan's other films. The climax in this film hardily exists. This movie has an OK idea but Syamalan did not do anything to make it more interesting. However this does not ruin the movie. The violent deaths and shocking scenes keep this movie alive. 6 out of 10.