Put it this way: If you like Shymalan, it's worth a look.

Rating: 6/10 (10 January 2010)

My Take: Bizarre and sometimes campy, but can be chillingly effective if it has to be.
As I am a fan of M. Night Shymalan, my first impression of his latest film THE HAPPENING being a "fun b-movie" as he puts it is that it wouldn't turn out to be as bad as many critics put it. Shymalan, in an attempt to revive his success after the failure of LADY IN THE WATER (an argument that is still goes on among few defenders and haters), just wanted to make a simple B-movie genre effort in an attempt not to alienate some of his viewers from the different and misunderstood nature of his previous efforts, an effort that is still being shrugged by critics. But even a B-movie to Shyamalan is still a film that is faithful to some of the nature of his previous efforts. Most evidently, the use of suspense rather than typical scares.
The opening sequence is probably the best. It opens in Central Park, where people go about their usual business when suddenly people find themselves committing suicide in the oddest of fashion. Shymalan, given the full liberties of an R-rating, devises this opening sequence in an over-the-top fashion, yet as well in such effective creepiness that it makes your skin crawl nonetheless. Unfortunately, in spite of a few other disturbing kills later, the rest of the film fails to live up to its admittedly chilling setup. I praised Shymalan before as a superior yet underrated storyteller, but it seems in THE HAPPENING, disturbing and well-crafted sequences aside, fails to live up to some of his superior works, even if, taken in its own merit, is not half bad compared to what the critics have said about it.
Firstly, the narrative is rather messy, with no real beginning (after the superb opening sequence, there's hardly a character setup) and an ending with no real closure. Everything just seems to be, pardon the pun, happening. Performances are uneven, with Wahlberg alternating from frantic to campy, either way it's hard to believe him as a science professor when he starts getting silly. Zooey Deschanel is just out of place, a great actress as she is. Some actors like John Leguizamo, Spencer Breslin, Alan Ruck and others are in the cast too, but it's hard not to credit them as nothing more than cameo appearances; they're hardly there, whether or not they serve any real purpose. Finally, Betty Buckley appears later in the film in a relevant supporting role (even if she's only there for, say, 20 minutes) as the out-of-her-mind Mrs. Jones.
THE HAPPENING is Shymalan's weakest film to date, not that I'm comparing it to any of his ever-varying works. But being an admirer of his works, every underrated work of his after THE SIXTH SENSE, THE HAPPENING has it's strong points and some effective moments that live up to the director's form. The cinematography by Tak Fujimoto perfectly captures the shots and one-take sequences that Shyamalan demands. James Newton Howard provides yet another terrific, if often ham-fisted, score. Suffice to say: If Shymalan is your cup of tea, this one is well worth watching. I, for one, am looking forward to what he'll come up with next.
Rating: *** out of 5.