--it Happens

Rating: 8/10 (13 June 2008)

I wish people would cut M. Night Shyamalan some slack, 'cause I'm going to. I've always found his films watchable and of a type that I'll call "intelligent" horror films. I'm perplexed--not that fans of, say, Freddy Krueger are non-plussed by Shyamalan's work, but--that those who praise films like "Iron Man" can point to this and say it's nonsense.
It's one of the few post-9/11 films that taps into our paranoia without exploiting it. What happens is the fun in the film, so I won't betray that. But as a filmmaker there's a constancy, a visual artistry, and a dread that makes Shyamalan a modern day Hitchcock. I think his work will wear better when we have some distance from the era in which they were made.
If I had a complaint, I think this screenplay could have gone through a rewrite once or twice more. Some of the ideas aren't fully developed (a subplot in which Betty Buckley returns to the genre many, many years after "Carrie" and she's riveting is one example) and while claustrophobia is enhanced by the intimacy of point of view, I'm trying to imagine the exodus from the train station as being so organized. I'd like to have seen something more epic in the panic to flee. And the resolution of the issues between Walhberg and Deschanel seems hasty and forced.
Still, we have some fine unsettling moments only a few of which are red herrings. And the cast is quirky and nervous in their performances. It's the first time ages that John Leguizamo has delivered something worthy of his talent.
I think people who find their way to this film will enjoy it. I enjoyed "Signs" as well as "The Village"; "Unbreakable" a superior super-hero film, and while those films never matched the popularity of "The Sixth Sense," I find that unfortunate. M. Night Shyamalan has brought some class back to suspense and horror films, and I hope people will applaud that.