The Pre-Release Negative Buzz was Deserved. Sorta.

Rating: 6/10 (11 June 2008)

I never understood why critics (and audiences) were so hard on M. Night Shyamalan. I honestly believe that Lady in the Water and The Village are his best films (sue me!). That's why I overlooked The Happening's negative buzz, and went to see it on its opening day. To my surprise, critics were right (for the most part), and Shyamalan has disappointed me for the first time.
The idea of an airborne toxic that causes people to unconsciously hurt themselves is genuinely original, creepy, and effective. Fittingly, Shyamalan comes up with the scariest death scenes in recent memory. My fiancée had to cover her eyes multiple times. Moreover, The Happening has a couple of excellent jump scares. Needless to say, Shyamalan is still excellent at composing his scenes. And as usual, James Newton Howard's score rocks. Unfortunately, that's were the good news ends.
The very first scene of The Happening puts you right in the middle of the action. But that's probably why the film runs out of steam so quickly. This should've been a 75-80 minute film. Basically, nothing happens in the second half. We're just introduced to a couple of freaky, freaky characters. Mrs. Jones in particular did get huge laughs at my showing. And BTW, I was perfectly fine with the explanation the film came up with. After all, this is a super-natural thriller.
Shyamalan was always able to get excellent performances out of his leads. I'd even say that's his trademark. However, Mark Wahlberg totally lets him down. He was terrible. He has same look on his face whether he's scared, joking, or thinking. The tone of his voice rarely changed as well. His turn single-handedly eliminates the emotional impact of a lot of scenes. Remember Lady in the Water's Healing scene? I cried like a baby when I saw that. The Happening has a similar "redemption" scene, but frankly, I couldn't care less. Deschanel was even worse. She was just standing there, reciting her lines. She got better near the end though.