What's happening? A decent alternative to the summer blockbuster, that's what happening.

Rating: 6/10 (19 June 2008)

M. Night Shyamalan has had a rocky track record as of late. While The Sixth Sense was a huge hit both financially and critically, his films have slowly been declining in critical praise and box office performance ever since, which was apparent from Lady in the Water, which didn't manage to break even during it's run and was generally viewed as one of 2006's worst films. The Happening is his first new project since his last disaster and it's been billed as Shyamalan's first R-rated movie. Despite the heavier rating, The Happening is similar in style, theme and content to Shyamalan's other films, although it's a bounce back in the right direction after a few mishaps.
The Happening chronicles an epidemic that sweeps the North-East coast of America. At first thought to be the result of a terrorist attack, large groups of people begin to become disoriented, lose their speech and commit mass suicide at random. The events occur sporadically, first in Central Park, then throughout New York City and eventually spreading throughout the whole North-East coast. Elliot Moore, a New York high school teacher, desperately tries to seek safety with his wife, Alma, and his best friend's daughter, Jess, as people begin inflicting death upon themselves all around them.
While the film was billed as a visceral, gory R-rated horror, that couldn't be further from the truth. The Happening is more of a drama that focuses on a horrific event, rather than a straight-up horror movie. This will be familiar for fans of Shyamalan who have likely grown accustomed to his slow-moving, atmospheric films that focus much more on character than they do on generating scares. This isn't to say that the film is without its freaky moments. Some of the mass suicides, particularly one where construction workers begin plunging to their deaths, are incredibly eerie and unsettling. The idea of people turning on themselves is creepy in itself, as one can really only rely on themselves in life. By having people randomly commit suicide, Shyamalan taps into the fear of people turning on themselves and he's got the visual style to create some very chilling imagery revolving around the suicides. His use of long wide shots allows the audience to focus on what's happening, as opposed to using jumpy, sporadic cuts that end up detracting from the content (like most horror/action directors use these days). Shyamalan's already proved himself to be a master of suspense with The Sixth Sense, and there are a few shocking moments throughout the film which had me jumping out of my seat that hark back to his horror debut.
The downside seems to be that in an attempt to get an R-rating, Shyamalan has thrown in numerous useless instances of gore. I'll admit I'm a huge fan of gore and violence, but it really feels out of place in a film like this. A scene in which lions bite a man's arm off or a scene where a man is torn apart by a lawnmower seems unnecessary and at odds with the rest of the film. Obviously it was a marketing strategy, but it detracts from the movie as a whole.
Another weak point of Shyamalan's is his script, particularly the dialog. While he's a great director, especially at building up suspense, and he's skilled enough when working with the plot, storyline and the twists he has become famous for, his dialog is really weak. Often the stuff they say is rather ridiculous and unrealistic (a young soldier says "Cheese and crackers" as opposed to a more common expletive) and it ends up evoking laughter in the audience. The attempts at comedy are also fairly poor, with characters randomly talking about "hot dogs" and other things of the sort. Shyamalan's strong suit isn't comedy and while humor could be a nice contrast in a dour movie like this, it doesn't work here.
The acting is also fairly bad, which is a surprise considering the cast. Mark Walberg and John Leguizamo have proved themselves to be good actors, but here they are pretty terrible, and most of the blame can be pinned on Shyamalan. They are both notorious for playing tough guys and here they're miscast, both portraying soft-spoken teachers. The issues with the dialog don't help them much either, and they're always overacting, in an attempt to appear more "nerdy" or things of similar nature. Zooey Deschanel is entirely wrong for her role, as Wahlberg's wife, and even the character is developed poorly. She talks like a character out of "Juno" (with the quips on the phone about Joey being a stalker) and she seems to quirky and unnatural for a movie like this, which stays fairly grounded in reality, at least for a horror. It's obvious that despite Shyamalan's directorial finesse behind the camera, he's not nearly as gifted when working with actors.
The Happening isn't nearly as good as some of Shyamalan's other efforts, nor is it nearly as bad as some. It's a decently good eco-thriller that manages to conjure up some good scares, with a message beneath them all. It's not the best horror film, but it's one of the more original ones to come out recently. It definitely doesn't deserve the critical drubbing it has gotten, but then again, the same critics smashing this film are praising mindless drivel like The Incredible Hulk, so it's to be expected that a more thoughtful film would be trashed. If you're tired of seeing the standard cookie-cutter summer blockbusters, do yourself a favor and give The Happening a shot.