First the 'Strangers' and then this....

Rating: 4/10 (15 June 2008)

There are only two reasons I am giving this four stars: 1.) I got into the movie free with a pass 2.) I saw the 'Strangers' the week before
M. Night makes me think of a young director who is trying very hard to be a modern day Spielberg by covering a multitude of paranormal ideas. He seems to have the vision and imagination, but lacks the patience in terms of executing his original thoughts. I found a similar link in this movie to the Village: he gives us the twist way too early, making the last forty minutes or so a long, drawn-out conclusion. Had he the patience to wait the appropriate length of time to 'reveal' the twist, these movies might have had a stronger impact. The acting is not very good at all and the attempts at witty dialogue sound too much like a 'Scooby-Doo' cartoon. I honestly couldn't find one good moment of acting or dialogue that didn't feel like a cartoon. People are panicked by the wave of death, yet they really aren't. The Army guy who shows up is plain stupid and suggests an underlying belief by Night that everyone in the Army is ignorant. M. Night then throws out the 'if we were more nice to plants, this wouldn't have happened' politics, revealing his 'greener' side and appeasing Hollywood hippies and producers alike. Very sad. I love apocalypse movies, but this one certainly isn't one by my standards. Literally twenty four hours after the start of bad juju, love prevails and saves the day, ending the catastrophe. But wait, not so fast....it's happening again all over...no shock there. I would have rather seen the trees and plants come to life and kill everyone than have them run away from the wind. I suppose for my apocalypse flavor, I'll have to hold on tight for the film version of Stephen King's 'Cell' and hope that Eli Roth can deliver something more shocking, better acted and overall more disturbing than 'The Happening'.