Review- The Happening
I'm reviewing The Happening because is there anything much scarier than watching a film full of wasted talent?
The Happening is a film from M. Night Shyamalan and technically fits this time of year as it's a horror film, only it offers literally no scares at all. The film opens with everyone in a park standing still as a woman pulls out a hair pin and stabs herself in the cheek. Next, a bunch of people jump off of a building. It turns out that there is some toxin in the air that reverses our in built survival instinct so that we want to die. I call it the "Happening" effect because it accurately sums up how it feels to watch this movie, first the confusion then the desire to kill yourself through any means possible. Science teacher Mark Whalberg decides to run away from this toxin with his emotionless wife (if it's a plot point, you can't criticise it). The plot unravels and, spoilers, it turns out its just nature so most of the film is people running away from the wind until it isn't. At that point, the film ends but hints that the events are going to happen all over again in Paris. If it feels like I haven't described the plot at all, that's because there is not much plot to share.
When it comes to acting, you'd better believe there's stuff to talk about. See, the film is an unintentional comedy and probably the biggest factor in that is the bizarre performances given universally from the cast. I guess I'll start with the lead performance of Mark Whalberg, a man I've always said is best in comedies, a genre which The Happening tripped over and fell into. Like his laughably bad work in Transformers, he plays a scientist, getting to deliver lines like "You should care about science. You know why? Your face is perfect". Most impressive, it's all completely deadpan, Marky Mark not breaking a smile once. His emotionless wife is played by Zooey Deschanel and when it comes to not having emotions, she knocks it out the park. Unfortunately, that's not really a compliment. She's very good at having her eyes open very wide but that's about it. John Leguizamo turns up as well and makes me feel sad for his career. Whether you're main or supporting cast, it's guaranteed that your acting will be bad, be it realising your family are dead or watching a video of a man feeding his arms to lions.
Don't worry, I'm not just skipping over that last part, I'm dedicating this whole paragraph to the unintentional hilarity that is abundant in the film. Much of it comes from the acting, as mentioned, but there is this extreme air of naivety in the air, like no one working on it realised that anyone could find these things funny. For example, a man feeding his arms to lions. A woman stabbing herself in the cheek. A man lying down in the path of a lawnmower. An elderly lady walking around the outside of the house, bashing her head into the walls and windows. It sounds pretty funny written down but is on a whole other level in practice as everyone is completely dead faced on it. Just the pure absurdity, not just of the suicide methods, but of plants making people kill themselves is a barrier that I can't imagine anyone being able to get over, locking this film off completely as a horror film. As a comedy, it opens new paths but I don't think that was the true intention.
I've definitely reviewed worse films but The Happening is still pretty boring in many places. There are countless scenes that are literally just people running from wind. That said, get some mates together, get some beers and I think you've got a good night ahead. Reviewing it on actual merits as opposed to potential drunk enjoyment (PDE) though, it's just not a good film and I'm going to give it a
The Happening is a film from M. Night Shyamalan and technically fits this time of year as it's a horror film, only it offers literally no scares at all. The film opens with everyone in a park standing still as a woman pulls out a hair pin and stabs herself in the cheek. Next, a bunch of people jump off of a building. It turns out that there is some toxin in the air that reverses our in built survival instinct so that we want to die. I call it the "Happening" effect because it accurately sums up how it feels to watch this movie, first the confusion then the desire to kill yourself through any means possible. Science teacher Mark Whalberg decides to run away from this toxin with his emotionless wife (if it's a plot point, you can't criticise it). The plot unravels and, spoilers, it turns out its just nature so most of the film is people running away from the wind until it isn't. At that point, the film ends but hints that the events are going to happen all over again in Paris. If it feels like I haven't described the plot at all, that's because there is not much plot to share.
When it comes to acting, you'd better believe there's stuff to talk about. See, the film is an unintentional comedy and probably the biggest factor in that is the bizarre performances given universally from the cast. I guess I'll start with the lead performance of Mark Whalberg, a man I've always said is best in comedies, a genre which The Happening tripped over and fell into. Like his laughably bad work in Transformers, he plays a scientist, getting to deliver lines like "You should care about science. You know why? Your face is perfect". Most impressive, it's all completely deadpan, Marky Mark not breaking a smile once. His emotionless wife is played by Zooey Deschanel and when it comes to not having emotions, she knocks it out the park. Unfortunately, that's not really a compliment. She's very good at having her eyes open very wide but that's about it. John Leguizamo turns up as well and makes me feel sad for his career. Whether you're main or supporting cast, it's guaranteed that your acting will be bad, be it realising your family are dead or watching a video of a man feeding his arms to lions.
Don't worry, I'm not just skipping over that last part, I'm dedicating this whole paragraph to the unintentional hilarity that is abundant in the film. Much of it comes from the acting, as mentioned, but there is this extreme air of naivety in the air, like no one working on it realised that anyone could find these things funny. For example, a man feeding his arms to lions. A woman stabbing herself in the cheek. A man lying down in the path of a lawnmower. An elderly lady walking around the outside of the house, bashing her head into the walls and windows. It sounds pretty funny written down but is on a whole other level in practice as everyone is completely dead faced on it. Just the pure absurdity, not just of the suicide methods, but of plants making people kill themselves is a barrier that I can't imagine anyone being able to get over, locking this film off completely as a horror film. As a comedy, it opens new paths but I don't think that was the true intention.
I've definitely reviewed worse films but The Happening is still pretty boring in many places. There are countless scenes that are literally just people running from wind. That said, get some mates together, get some beers and I think you've got a good night ahead. Reviewing it on actual merits as opposed to potential drunk enjoyment (PDE) though, it's just not a good film and I'm going to give it a
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