Either outsmart the inexplicable or die. That's OK - in a movie.

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2008)

In "The Happening", we see an intense effort either to survive by outsmarting the inexplicable or to face the end with dignity. I found it appealing.
I liked Mark Wahlberg's science teacher and how he handled his class. The trick he played on one student might get him into trouble in today's hypersensitive world, but such theatrics must be tempting to many teachers. If everyone could teach like that, our test scores would be great.
I liked the struggle for an explanation. Not that I agreed with the movie's take on evolution, but when you are in a desperate run for your life from such an unknowable threat, you might improvise a bit. Wahlberg's character, the TV talking heads, and John Leguizamo's math teacher were all out of their depth, and they were all probably wrong about what was happening. But at least their theories fit the facts before them. The "force of nature", whatever it was, clearly affected smaller groups as time went on, and realizing that fact saved at least some of the characters.
I liked how Zooey Deschanel conveyed terror without surrender at least until there seemed to be good reason for surrender without terror. From the promotional clips, I was afraid that she was stuck with one of those old female characters whose only role was to just stand there. I was prepared to hate that, because her characters are usually strong people who can deal with life and convey their turmoil without the standard kicking and screaming.
However, her character did deal with life and taught us something valuable. The first shot of her face, a quietly expressive one, shows understanding of the scale of the danger if not the cause. Eventually, as a painful ending becomes likely, she shows how you can face this as long as you fulfill your responsibilities  in her case to atone for her contemplated transgression and also to the young girl in her care.
I was actually disappointed that the ending was so bland. There was no good reason for the movie to stick with the explanation as understood by the characters, who were making the best of very limited information. The danger they perceived could probably be overcome medically, and the movie needed to end by finding some new level of revolt by nature. Now I am stuck with trying to create my own ending, but maybe that is part of the fun.