First M. Night Shyamalan I am not in a hurry to buy on DVD

Rating: 6/10 (20 November 2008)

I'll begin by saying I am a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan films. However, each one is getting worse than the one before it. The Sixth Sense was amazing, Unbreakable was very good, Signs was good, The Village was good, and Lady in the Water was pretty descent. Now we have The Happening. I had high hopes; the trailers and movie posters looked awesome, but trailers have a way of taking substandard movies and making them look like blockbusters.
I enjoyed the story idea, and the execution thereof. It was a creative idea and kept me interested through the entire film. The filming style was trademark M. Night Shyamalan. I guess what I was looking for was the twist ending that we have come to expect with his early films. We have been conditioned to expect this from him, and we just did not get it here. However, what we did get was a gripping story about a horrifying event and the struggles of a group of people trying to survive it. There is also a subplot dealing with love that was done fairly well.
I have seen it as a rental, and I am glad I did not go to the theater and pay full price, and I am not in any hurry to own it. I would like to own it, to complete my M. Night Shyamalan collection, but I'll wait until the DVD price comes down a bit. I will give this film an extra star because M. Night Shyamalan is from my hometown of Wayne, just outside of Philadelphia, and like all M. Night Shyamalan films, a good portion of this takes place in the Philly area. My rating is 6 stars. It was cool but didn't have any lasting power like M. Night's earlier films.
See my profile to understand my rating philosophy.