M. Night strikes back: My theory of The Happening

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2008)

While watching this movie and being rocked back and forth between brilliant suspense and horror and campy comedy, I became convinced of one thing:
Shayamalan is angry.
What he did is basically this: He made a B movie about killer plants. A timely and Eco-friendly theme, no doubt, in this day and age of global warming and pollution. But more than that, I think this is his answer to all his critics, and I'm surprised that the critics didn't get it.
We already saw glimpses of that in the character of the film critic in Lady In The Water. But here M. Night is in full "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore" state of mind. What with the Lady In The Water debacle and the book that came after that, basically painting him as an ego-maniac. Now, I don't know the guy, but I know he's a brilliant, original, filmmaker. Lady in the Water was a misfire, but I'll take a Shayamalan misfire over many other by-the-numbers, boring, recycled movies. (Just look at Made of Honor, for Christ sake.)
What he did is a marvelous cinematic exercise. He made a "bad" film on purpose. That's right. The actors ham it shamelessly. The close-ups are at times ridiculous, especially in the second part. I have never seen any movie like this. It moves from moments of brilliance (the first 10 minutes) to near-camp (Whalberg in the class room).
There's this crazy old lady... Shayamalan isn't in this film, but I think this lady personifies his state of mind just as well.
And of course, the final masterstroke is the twist. The twist is there is no twist. It just ends. This was most surly done on purpose and knowingly. Shayamalan needed to lower the impossible expectations. The critics are waiting for him to fall. Again. So he makes this movie, and he makes it in such a way that he trumps everything. The complaints about his plots, about his twists, about the over-sentimentality. (Wahlberg actually breaks down and cries several times in the course of the film.)
The real mystery here is how he got, or rather, convinced Mark Wahlberg, an accomplished actor, to give such a campy performance. (the kid in the film is the best actress of them all. Again, I believe, on purpose. She's the innocent of the piece).
The Happening is also very violent and scary. It's also very funny and again, campy. The dialog, the performances. I don't know how to describe this film. Again, It's nothing like I've ever seen. It's a filmmaker fighting back the criticism and simultaneously making a disturbing horror film... which is also a spoof of his own style!
This guy is insane. Bravo.