So weak.

Rating: 2/10 (17 August 2008)

This movie was supposed to be so many things but mostly it was supposed to be the return of M. Night Shamyalan. Honestly, I feel like he hasn't made a good movie since "The Sixth Sense." Anyone who watches Signs or The Village would know why many critics call him a one trick pony. Sadly enough, "The Happening" turns out to be the same but without the one trick.
Yes, it's true. This is one film from Night that didn't have the twist ending or the one trick to it. He tried to sell the movie and the scares on some sort of supernatural happening which was completely unexplained. As the trailer explains, the first signs are loss of speech, then disorientation. And then the victims suddenly commit suicide. OK, honestly, the physical portion of the so called symptoms was over done. Basically, when someone is about to commit suicide they begin to walk backwards. By the end of the movie you've seen that bit so many times that you just cant help but laugh. And I was somewhat surprised by the number of laughs there were in the movie. But I didn't go to this movie to laugh; I went to this movie for the scares. Sadly, there really weren't any.
I will say this though. From the trailer we know there is a scene that involves construction workers all jumping to their deaths. You don't know how terrifying this is until you actually see it. To see a body hit the pavement and the sickening sounds it makes was nothing short of horrific. Now imagine the camera moving in a circle as more and more workers jump off the girders. Every time a body hits the pavement or a car or a dumpster, we see bones breaking and the sound sends chills up your spine.
Some people have commented on how Mark Walberg always plays the angry badass. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in "The Departed" and this was well deserved. I didn't think that Walberg could pull off the role of a middle school science teacher but he ends up doing it quite well. It wasn't like the usual turn an actor makes and tries something different, and you're sitting there wishing they had never had the idea in the first place. Do I need to remind you all about Jim Carrey in "The Number 23"? All in all, I think Shamyalan is washed up. He might make one or two more movies, but if those don't break box office records then he might have to retire. I love how with the trailers of all his movies he has to put, "From the director of The Sixth Sense!" Yea pal, we know you made one of the creepiest thrillers ever and gave Bruce Willis his finest hour. We know that was the movie that gave Willis the title of 2nd highest paid Hollywood actor in history (the first is the ever crappy Keaneu Reeves). We also know that "The Sixth Sense" made more money on the 5th weekend it was open (Memorial Day weekend) than it did on opening weekend. This is an accolade held by only one other Hollywood film; Titanic. But seriously, the critics called him the one trick pony because of the predictable twist at the end of all his films after "The Sixth Sense". I'm seriously beginning to think that he just got lucky with his first film, and that's all.