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Besides the fact his "What You
Don't See" style of horror has been overtaken by "Torture-Porn" in the
mainstream, his diva-ish antics surrounding the critical and financial
bomb that was Lady In The Water have him pegged as one of the most difficult people to work with in Hollywood.
So
there is a lot riding on this one - and from a totally superficial
point of view, this movie might just save him from oblivion: Great
Trailer, Great Premise, Great Set-Up, Great looking poster!
The
flick starts off well, with news that a mysterious airborne neurotoxin
is spreading across the US - causing people to inexplicably kill
themselves.
A high school science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) runs
for his life together with his estranged wife (Zooey Deschanel), friend
(John Leguizamo, who is excellent in his few scenes) and his daughter
in an effort to survive - or simply outrun - the virus while the world
goes into a maelstrom of self destruction.
[WARNING : SPOILER AHEAD]
Make no mistake, 75% of The Happening is pure Shyamalan class.
It's
intense, it's chilling (especially some of the grizzly random suicides)
and it builds towards what can only be an insanely satisfying twist...
and then... nothing.
That's right - nothing!
Normally, I would have no issue with that - but The Happening seems to pride itself throughout that there is more to come.
Perhaps the twist is that there is no twist?
And
even if that is the case, the audience is still bound to feel amazingly
cheated by the lack of a conclusion outside of the philosophical "Some
events simply can't be explained".
After the backlash this
film received by audiences, the one thing you can pretty much
guarantee that won't be Happening is the funding of the next M. Night
Shyamalan movie.
Add to that to the fact that Whalberg is simply
woeful - just terrible, and more often than not a complete distraction
which takes you out of the movie (which, as I said, draws you in for an
excellent 80 minutes) - and the dreadful feeling by the end of the film
that you have just been duped into paying to see an hour and a half
long environmental lecture.
The original working title for the film was The Green Effect and then Green Planet, both of which actually would have made more sense and would have been a bit more satisfying when the credits rolled.
The Happening is an excellent thriller, at times on par with Sixth Sense or even Signs,
with a totally misguided ending which completely unravels all the
success which proceeded it - which is frustrating - because it was so
close to being a masterpiece. DVD EXTRAS
If there is one thing you can't fault M. Night
Shyamalan for, it's knowing how to treat his DVD audience. He has
always peppered various inventive special features around the place
(the best I've seen was a "documentary" trying to uncover the dark
secrets of the director for The Village).
Included
here are a bunch of Deleted Scenes with introductions by Shyamalan and
a whole swag of featurettes which cover a range of topics (and not just
those sort of extras where it's idiot actors talk about "how great it
was working with...").
Yep - featurettes with a bit of substance!
The
extras go a long way to explaining the problems that faced the
theatrical run of the movie - and are well worth checking out.
One of the rare cases where DVD extras actually help improve the viewing experience of a less than perfect film.
Conclusion:
Movie 70% Extras: 65%
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