The final breath of a filmmaker who was once quite brilliant.

Rating: 1/10 (14 June 2008)

The year is 1999, a year of disappointments Anna and the King failed to do the original justice, the Blair Hype Project was well over-hyped and Sleepy Hollow seemed to be the start of the decline of Tim Burtons Career. So it's a wonderful feeling for a young critic to walk into a cinema and watch h a newcomer make a name for himself with the ultra scary The Sixth Sense. A year after that he gave us the rather brilliant Unbreakable followed by Signs witch was two thirds brilliant. The Village needed a little more work but even at that it was a decent piece of work.
It seems his decline in greatness has been rather abrupt. 11 August 2006 the eagerly awaited new movie from master director holds our anticipation in a tight grasp only to disappoint. Little did we know that his follow up movie would be even more disastrous. A tale that follows the imminent destruction on mankind, a film so poorly made that at one point (look out for this) while Elliot is talking to Josh in the modal home you can see the microphone hovering above them. Such a sloppy effort from the so called master director. With on/off pacing, a trademark twist that's barely a twist and a plot that shames that of prom night. The Happening is a real disaster.
So a good place to start for this review would be to find out just what the hell is happening right? Wrong! The plot is the main reason this film stumbles.
What's happening? It's a good question, and one that's asked by at least 10 characters, ensuring viewers will remember the title however hard they try to forget the movie. Is it a terrorist attack? Signs 2, perhaps? No, waitÂ… Can it be linked to the missing bees that Mark Wahlberg's unlikely science teacher was banging on about in class? Or is it the most ridiculous scenario imaginable, a concept so daft an eight-year-old child would dismiss it before settling on "And then he woke up and it was all a dream"?
Unfortunately it's the latter, meaning belief is not so much suspended as rudely upended. And if that doesn't do it Â– trust us, it will Â– there's the risible dialogue ("Oh no" gasps a permanently bamboozled Wahlberg, Bill & Ted-style, when a companion blows their brains out), the wooden acting and the most inane set-piece you'll see this, or any other, year: our heroes attempting to outrun the wind.
Shyamalan, then, has lost his way. The first misstep came in the last 10 minutes of the otherwise excellent Signs and the stumbles have become more and more pronounced. Yet he is a born filmmaker, capable of conjuring choking tension from a high-angled shot of a girl on a swing, a bank of rolling clouds.
My Final Verdict? Avoid at all costs. The trailer might look tempting but truth is there isn't much happening in the happening. As much as i hate to admit it, this will be the directors last film. The last nail in the coffin if you will of his career. As for Wahlberg he could do a hell of a lot better. Not worth checking out in all. Sixth nonsense. A discomfiting experience.