A Powerful and Moving tale about the End of the World

Rating: 9/10 (27 June 2008)

This movie has been getting a lot of bad reviews that it doesn't deserve. Myself, I'm a fan of all M.Night's movies and The Happening is no exception. The premise of the movie is a about a sudden ecological event that becomes a threat to all humanity causing people to brutally kill themselves. The movie introduces us to high school science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and his less than faithful wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) trying to escape from Phildelphia before the the event "happens" there too. Math teacher and friend of Elliot, Julian (John Lequizamo) and his daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) tag along. The thing I liked most about this movie is how Shyamalan shows how people would really react to the end of the world, not by running around screaming but sitting idly by,confused and filled with quiet fear.
In summary the people who didn't like this movie obviously didn't see the how deep it's meaning goes. If your looking for a cheap horror movie,this movie isn't for you, but if you you are looking for a deep, moving, and powerful psychological thriller than you should see this movie. Also if you aren't convinced after my review take a look at Roger Ebert's review, he should be able to convince you otherwise.