When did it 'happen' and when it got over?

Rating: 5/10 (14 June 2008)

As it happens with most of the movies that promise to deliver and come out short, "The Happening" starts out with a great assurance of an intense thriller but when you walk out of the theater you wonder what really "Happened" ?
The positives - It gets you right into the plot Without wasting much time and the plot isn't contrived. Although it may seem far-fetched but then there is no denying it may happen or happening even now. It's difficult to keep inventing new ideas of mass killing. There is a minimal amount of blood and gore, the only occasional scene to keep reminding what's happening (Oh that word). That's what was expected, that it wouldn't be like those slasher flicks with gallons of blood and gross-out scenes. It spooks you through silence, through strange acts by normal people without hideous faces. It has a fair amount of shock-treatment. To certain extent, it draws you into the plot. It's thrilling, evocative and original, yes.
Hmm now what's lacking - An occasional jolt of humor is fine, but there is a touch overdose of induced humor, which i didn't expect from Shyamalan. It lets you relax. It lets you cool off. May be he wanted to appeal to greater audience. MNS hasn't let the actors get inside their roles. May be he didn't want to divert from the plot, fair enough. But it doesn't get in depth in the plot too. Although he's captured the usual cliché's of the last dialogs when people sense they are going to die, i didn't find the people terrified enough. Where is the desperation to survive, the urge to hang in there till you are finally dead, the struggle of survival. People are surprisingly calm ! True that it looked like the 'happening' is beyond our grasp, but if you are evacuating a city, wouldn't people scream, crowd at stations, fight to be first ones out, even bribe. Where is the human emotion? Another one was getting the plot to some sort of conclusion, and i won't divulge, but it could have been better.
I can come up with a new idea of mass-murder flick, let's say the planets in our galaxy have formed a unique position and that's caused some electromagnetic flux along with strange gravitational pull that's causing people to die or go insane, animals are acting weird, crops have stopped growing. And it's a nice plot believe me, may be i can sell it to someone. But when i show it on the big screen, i need to make sure i take it to a logical conclusion on how we humans beat this. You got me ? And for God's sake i didn't realize why it was 'Rated R'.
Overall, it isn't a bad movie, it builds up the story, thrills you just enough, gets you into it and suddenly forgets there is an audience still waiting and brings down the curtain.