Movie Review: The Happening (2008)

The Happening is a 2008 movie directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The movie follows Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel as a couple who along with a few companions flee from a natural disaster. That disaster being? Toxic air that causes people to commit suicide. The Happening is a movie that once again is so bad, it's good. There are no real good parts to this film (which I will talk about more later) The movie focuses on this natural disaster and there are some many problems with the movie that I cannot even focus on where to begin. The first issue is the acting. From the opening minutes of The Happening, the acting blatantly isn't good. It feels like a movie from the SyFy network (In fact, this entire film does) and it just goes downhill from there. Mark Wahlberg does not even try in this movie. I'm sorry to say that about him because I do like Mark as an actor. He's done some fantastic movies and this however, isn't his moment. Zooey Deschanel does provide an interesting, if not even bizzare and strange performance, which really falls apart once you realize that she is not intentionally trying to make you feel weird. The Happening also deals with (like Lady In the Water) a very intricate plot that goes far too in depth. It gets to a point where the story becomes so confusing and messed up that you cannot even follow it, let alone maintain solid interest in this toxic air. Oh yeah, about the air, I always had an idea for this movie: when the air hits people, make the citizens of these cities and countries go after one another...not themselves. That doesn't even seem remotely realistic. The movie keeps going like this throughout the entire ninety - minute runtime. However, this movie is actually a guilty pleasure and is very enjoyable. You can't take The Happening as a serious film that has real messages about life, but look at it as an enjoyable film with some scenes using the tone from the Sharknado films. In the filmography of M. Night, this is the movie that does seem to be one of my least favorites of his. Even given his track record, Happening doesn't touch me and entertain me personally as much as other movies of his. Even as a disaster/apocalyptic/ end of the world movie it doesn't quite meet the standards of the genre. There's plenty of disaster cinema out there, but this one doesn't really feel like a disaster film because we don't fully understand what the disaster is. Another issue? Well, there is an over - abundance of exposition. There are scenes where the characters just stop and pick up a radio. Radio then tells them what has happened with the natural event, but the problem is this happens like about every twenty minutes. M. Night Shyamalan didn't quite have a clear vision (at least not in the film) of what this "thing" was and henceforth neither do we as audience members. Overall, The Happening is a guilty pleasure film, not all that great, that offers a good time for those who need a mindless brain - trip through Shyamalan. 1.5 stars.