Missing the point.

Rating: 8/10 (20 June 2008)

I think many reviewers are missing the point, or at least the significance of this film. "The Happening" is not about the earth taking revenge on humanity, just like "Signs" was not about an alien attack. Simply put, "The Happening" is about suicide, the suicide of Western civilization. Demographically western Europe, by way of birth rates, is disappearing. The U.S is just at maintenance levels. The elites have lost the basic instinct of self-preservation. Just note the reluctance of many to fight a war that threatens everything we hold dear. The elites (a strong concentration in the affected area) have strangely substituted the fight to end global warming for the fight against global Islamic terrorists. They don't want children, they want to enjoy the present without the encumbrance of children. These are all aspects of societal suicide. The killer is our own selfish hedonism and blindness to the real enemy coming back to blow us away.
Night is a subtle artist and the heavy handed premise of earth's revenge on the mean humans, obvious from the first third of the film is simply the story for his real point, societal self-destruction. Assuming the film's premise that plants are way smart, why would they want to kill us? Especially plants and trees that live in a park. Aren't they pampered, protected and cared for continually? The environmentalists are the ones trying to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, that's what the trees breath! Maybe that's why they want to kill only in the predominately liberal Northeast. There is irony here, please appreciate it.
"Signs" was not about an alien invasion but about God being in control even when we can't understand everything He's doing. This is not about attack of the killer tomatoes but the strange suicide of the West.