Unfortunately the worst film I have ever seen.

Rating: 3/10 (30 June 2008)

I went into this film wit high hopes. M. Night Shamalyan being one of my favourite directors I assumed he wouldn't disappoint. Also, after his great performance in The Departed I was looking forward to seeing Mark Wahlberg again.
I'll start with Mark Wahlberg. His acting in this film was so bad I found myself laughing in the cinema (The only other film I have ever done that in was Battlefield Earth, I tried so hard to contain myself this time but it really was that bad). His facial expression did not change throughout and his delivery of the already plain dialogue made the film sound dull, lifeless and sarcastic as if the director didn't know whether this film was a black comedy or a thriller.
M. Night Shamalyan. What a shame. This guy is not short of a thriller genius, up there with the likes of Wes Craven. In his last film, Lady In The Water, he tried to play it down a bit, make a bit more of a mild thriller. Well, it still attracted audiences and made some money but the general reception was poor. The film was carried by another underrated performance by Paul Giamatti. I really don't want to say this about him but it seems like he wrote the script for The Happening in about 15 minutes, wrote the first draft and then never even read it through once. I know this didn't happen but this script was awful...AWFUL. It was one dimensional, predictable and dull. It had pointless bits that could have been missed out and bits that should have been put in to explain the story, or lack of story. The idea was there but it was delivered in such a rushed way that it was like he didn't really care what the end result was. His direction was just as bad...
I could go on and on about this film. I was highly disappointed. I really did give this film a chance but in the end it really was, unfortunately, the worst film I have ever seen.