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The Happening Writer, Director, Producer: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, Ashlyn Sanchez, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley. By Don Young Whenever a new movie by M. Night Shyamalan is released, I rush out to view it at the theatre in hopes that he has found the genius again. His first success, The Sixth Sense, showed his talent, plus demonstrated the acting ability of Bruce Willis in a dramatic role, and introduced Haley Joel Osment. None of the three have achieved anything near to the same quality of work since. So I use that 1999 movie as a benchmark for any new production from Night, but I've got to the point where I don't rush so much to see them. The Happening begins in Central Park, New York at 8:33AM. An overcast sky, lighting that appears more like noon, and a pair of blond girls read on a park bench, as a typical group of background performers wanders in typical fashion. The People in the park go into freeze frame; one of the girls goes into a semi-trance, while the other seems unaffected, as does a dog. A few people walk backwards. The semi-trance girl, Claire, pulls a marlinespike from her hair and slowly drives it into her own neck. Jump to three blocks away at 8:59AM., on a construction site. As four workers enjoy an off-color joke, MacKenzie falls from the eighth floor, landing twenty feet away. Then Davis falls a short ways back. Workers begin to rain from the top of the building, landing all around. And still the original workers stand around watching, unaffected by anything other than shock. The background appears to move about unaffected, yet we hear screams and exclamations from unseen people. Jump to 9:45AM.; a classroom of high school students on Ritalin, in a comatose state so unlike anything we've seen in a classroom recently, that it can only indicate this is a fantasy horror movie. The teachers are pulled out of class and assembled in the theatre, for the Principal to tell them, “There appears to be an event happening. Central Park was just hit by what seems to be a terrorist attack. They're not clear on the scale, yet. It's some kind of air born chemical toxin that's been released in and around the park. They said to watch for warning signs. The first stage is confused speech. The second stage is physical disorientation, loss of direction. The third stage is fatal.” We just saw the first two in the classroom. All the while a thousand or more students are unsupervised in their classrooms, and not one sneaks in to see what is going on. We know that something strange is going on, and it affects most people. It makes some of them suicidal and puts others in suspended animation. Some walk backwards. In about an hour, the school board, or someone else, has figured out what is going on and organized a plan to dismiss all the students. Next comes the school dismissal scene, moving on to the front steps. The first students out are too young to be in high school, but the students get progressively older through the scene. There are buses lining the streets, but no teachers supervising. Everything seems so orderly or planned. Everyone calmly walks out talking and gets on a bus. The zombies in Dawn of the Dead showed more excitement. This is the first ten minutes of the movie; the most defining part that sets the scene and hooks the audience. So what did we learn in the first ten minutes and what gives us reason to continue watching? How does this compare to the benchmark of The Sixth Sense? Suspension of Disbelief: does this all seem true and believable? The premise is believable. And with chemical warfare a reality in the Gulf War, nothing prevents it from happening in The Happening. The special effects are good so far (and get even better as the film progresses). The acting is okay, but little in it to challenge the professionals. The better performances are seen later of the young, Ashlyn Sanchez and the veteran Betty Buckley. But I've seen too much that pulls me out of the story, and I'm not really interested in what comes next. The music is often used to create tension when no other cause is evident. Something is definitely not right, but it is the movie and it is evident from the watching. The script is as good as most students of film may write. The dialogue often seems contrived and repetitive. There are many one-sided cell phone conversations, and dialogue used to tell about things happening instead of showing them. Emotions are spoken about, rather than being seen. Often when we are told about something, we get the reverse camera angle and nothing is seen So how does this compare to Night's blockbuster hit, The Sixth Sense? That movie began with a simple basement scene with a sinister undertone that set the feeling of something being not right. It moves to a living room, where the woman and her psychiatrist husband share some wine, and discuss his reward of a plaque, received for his service. They move on to the bedroom, where an intruder waits. The intruder is really freaky and makes one uncomfortable watching, but afraid to look away. The intruder shoots the doctor and then shoots himself. The story jumps to outside a tenement the next fall, with the doctor reading his notes as he waits for a young boy to come out and run down the street to a church. The doctor approaches the child (his patient) inside the church. We think we know what's going on, but not everything. And strange things keep happening as we are drawn through the movie. To compare these two movies; there is really nothing to compare. The Happening is like a first time Director's movie, where there are some good production values, yet the whole production does not come together to make a great movie. The Sixth Sense had an excellent concept and story. It was a much better movie than its budget would suggest. Perhaps it was made from passion rather than from an ego trading on past success. I sometimes feel that one person who writes, directs and has a producer role makes for a strong vision being displayed on the screen. I think that in this case, the multi-role function has resulted in the loss of contribution by a talented crew that could have made a better movie with less control concentrated in one person. Success can lead to failure. As a DVD package, The Happening has a lot of content. Besides the movie, there are several featurettes about making the movie. One is about the intention to make an 'R' rated movie. These explain a lot of the background to the scenes and special effects. They are interesting to students of film and filmmakers. There are a few deleted scenes, and comments by the director on why they are not used in the movie. There is no director's commentary soundtrack, although the other things include his vision. A gag reel is included, which shows a lot of the high-jinks on set. Some of it is funny, while other suggests foolishness. And that isn't suggesting that foolishness is not desired on the set occasionally to release tension. Maybe the failing of this movie is that tension got released too often. Rent this DVD: there are few reasons to own it. |