Wahlberg Versus The Wind!!!

Rating: 2/10 (25 June 2008)

I have a problem when people excuse a boring film by saying it has a noble message or its subject matter is admirable. This all well and good but at the end of the day a movie should engage and be entertaining (not necessarily 'entertainment'). The Happening does neither. Not only that but on this example you can also throw in big bucks and high salaries. For all those reasons I do not apologise for any punches thrown at this farce of a film.
This film is tensionless and flat. In fact it is downright awful and feels like a bad daytime TV movie you'd find on the Sci-fi channel. The acting 'style' made everyone seem like they were retarded. I don't by the 'that was the point' argument. At the theatre where I saw the film it induced laughter from a perplexed audience. Totally perplexed. I felt no connection with any character and they bit players were so bad they felt like they were cast straight from the crew.
Usually Shyamalan has some inventive camera blocking. This film felt like it was made by a recent film school graduate. There was no cinema craft on display here, camera choices were poor and did not serve the 'drama'. This would be laughable even from an amateur filmmaker, not to mention from the man who gave us The Sixth Sense.
I was very angry I had spent my hard earned money on this crap. I used to be a huge Shyamalan fan. I forgave his one hiccup before this (Lady in the Water) by putting it down to "an off day" for M Night. However after this I'm not so sure anymore. This is strike two in my book. For many it's strike 3 after The Village. And for others still, it's strike 4 or 5! Perhaps on reflection I'm being too optimistic! .