This is a good movie, don't listen to the haters

Rating: Null/10 (16 April 2009)

That M. Night Shyamalan is perhaps the most hated and slammed film-maker of the present day is a fact beyond any debate. I have to admit that I was very disappointed at the movies he made after "The sixth sense", and that I didn't like any of them. However, I can't understand why so many critics and anonymous viewers of all kinds seem to have this negative prejudice against him. Perhaps it's because he doesn't send out an especially likable vibe, and because his former work sometimes came across as too pretentious. It's true that with every one of his movies, he always tries to deliver some deeper message and that he constructs his movies as parables, with the focus usually set on some universal situation or crisis rather than on the more particular conflicts that most dramas, thrillers or mysteries have us accustomed to. I can't say I think he's been very successful at delivering these messages in a viewer-friendly, non-pretentious way, but I respect the fact that he has never given up on his personal view of movie-making, and that he stays true to himself, much critic and -in my opinion, unjustified and too harsh- bashing this might have fostered. Having said this, like I stated at the beginning, I think his career has been objectively quite erratic.
Well, having said that, I think that "The happening" is, simply put, a good and entertaining movie. I have to admit I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, precisely because I regrettably chose to listen to all the many holier-than-thou critics who state their opinions as scientific fact, and also, dare I say it, to my own prejudice. I was proved wrong, and I am happy to say that I'm now looking forward to watching Shyamalan's next movies.
The movie is not perfect by any means, but it is thoroughly enjoyable, and it's based on a basic idea and a script that are just as smart as anything reasonably smart that you get to see on the big screen any of these days. The acting is also good. I honestly believe that, had this movie been made by any other household name or "promising" new director, it wouldn't have been slammed as relentlessly and sometimes scornfully as it did. This movie isn't at all the disaster that it has been described as by many critics. You might like it or not, but I would recommend watching it if you like dramas with a supernatural element, decent character development, and thrillers.
Another thing that I enjoyed about "The happening" is the modesty and, might I add, the lack of self-consciousness from which it was made. Especially at some sequences (and you will know which ones they are), you can tell that Shyamalan was probably not taking himself all that seriously, and that he was perhaps even making fun of the reputation that he's earned throughout most of his career, as a very intellectual, serious, and sometimes cold movie-maker. The movie has some tongue-in-cheek bits that I appreciated very much.