Education over Entertainment

Rating: 6/10 (16 June 2008)

The happening is an average film with a good premise. Among all the possible causes that could exterminate the human race, few would have given trees and plants a chance to wreck havoc on (by far) its greatest enemy - the human race. This sudden u-turn humbles citizens in the North East of the US (amongst the worst sinners when it comes to the environment), and brings them to their knees - literally. People just drop dead, and this confuses everyone - the actors, the audience, and seemingly, even the director. This is where the movie falls - because nobody knows how to react during this 'act of war'. The actors are always in a state of shock and/or awe, and even the writer/director does not commit to emotions whole-heartedly. It's as if M. Night Shyamalan threw a stone into a pond and then ran, not bothering to take the movie to places where it could have gone. Alas, this is what ultimately leaves an unfulfilled taste in our mouths. If only....this and if only...that. There are so many different ways the screenplay could have gone, and we are dissatisfied by the fact that the director asks us to sit on what seems to be a roller-coaster ride, and it ends up like a pram-ride. Shyamalan, with his brilliant imagination, once again puts an interesting issue on the table, and everything can be summed up by Wahlberg's great monologue with the plants - "All this while I have been talking with a plastic plant." We expected the real thing Night.