When confusion reigns, suspense is mitigated...

Rating: 5/10 (26 October 2010)

After the East Coast states are suddenly and inexplicably hit with a rash of mass suicides, two high school teachers and their loved ones come to believe there are neurotoxins in the air, being spread about by the winds, and valiantly try to escape. Prolific writer-director M. Night Shyamalan has crafted yet another intensely unsettling scenario (this one with more violent undercurrents than what is typical for the filmmaker), yet--once again--his conclusions are not half as interesting as his set-up, which ultimately leads to dissatisfaction. Shyamalan loses touch with his audience, not by producing theories and later disputing those theories, but by failing to go deeper within his own conception. "The Happening" dribbles away piece by piece, cut off from suspense by a rather staid sense of not-extraordinary dynamics (which include the character conflicts). Mark Wahlberg keeps a cool, rational head and works hard to convince us he's a baffled Everyman caught up in a panic-ridden situation; the character is constricted by the writing--he isn't allowed to branch out and take on an added dimension--however Wahlberg performs well under these restraints, despite a tendency to overwork his facial muscles. Cast as his unhappy wife, Zooey Deschanel's wide-eyed performance would seem dotty and out-of-place under any circumstance. The film is narrow in scope and doesn't improve by the third act, which may be a reason why Shyamalan wrote in the additional plumes of showoff bloodletting (such as a lawnmower incident which is held too long). He keeps the attention all right, but not in admirable ways. ** from ****