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Last Updated: Jul 7, 2008 - 10:08:41 AM
Shyama lama ding dong
By Steve Warren - Contributing Film Critic
Jun 11, 2008 - 2:09:10 PM
M. Night’s thriller about ‘nature’s revenge’ isn’t a toxic waste of time
There was a time when I would have had to put a bag over Mark Wahlberg’s head to do him, but I’ve grown accustomed to his face. I’ve also grown accustomed to his torso, which he used to display in every movie. Not only doesn’t he show his pecs in “The Happening,” but he wears a sweater vest when the computer shows the temperature as 82 degrees.
“The Happening” is an inconvenient horror movie about man’s inhumanity to plants — and nature’s revenge. It’s more subtle than the ’50s horror movies where nuclear testing created giant insects, or the ’70s “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” Chiffon margarine commercials.
It also marks something of a return to form for writer-director-producer M. Night Shyamalan. Not “The Sixth Sense” form — that will always be the “Citizen Kane” against which his films are measured and found wanting — but the flawed fun form of “Unbreakable,” “Signs” and “The Village.” In that sense he’s baaaack from his “Lady in the Water” nadir.
If “The Happening” doesn’t jump the shark a few times, it at least gingerly tiptoes over it. Not only doesn’t it have one of Shyamalan’s surprise endings — he’s wisely stopped trying to top himself in that area — but it drops hints along the way of exactly how the situation will be resolved.
The strange occurrences begin in Central Park at 8:33 a.m. There are screams, people stop in their tracks, some begin walking backwards and some kill themselves. At 8:59 something similar happens three blocks away at a construction site.
At 9:45 in Philadelphia, Elliot Moore (Wahlberg) is teaching his biology class about vanishing honeybees, an unexplained natural phenomenon. He also teases Jake (Robert Lenzi), a student who looks hot and knows it, about how his looks will fade later if he’s perfect at 15.
Suddenly school is dismissed in response to the events in New York, initially thought to be a terrorist attack involving neurotoxins. Math teacher Julian (John Leguizamo), Elliot’s best friend, invites him to come along to his mother’s place in the country. Elliot gets his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), who’s dealing with a personal problem, while Julian fetches his 8-year-old daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) — his wife will meet them later — and they board a train.
The sense of panic slowly builds as news reports come in from all over the northeastern U.S. and the train dumps everyone in rural Pennsylvania. Julian goes off to look for his wife, leaving Jess in the care of the childless (her choice) Elliot and Alma. They get a ride with a nursery owner (Frank Collison) who has some strange theories about how plants might be responsible for what’s happening.
People gather at a crossroads and exchange reports of having seen bodies a few miles back in all four directions. A soldier (funniest line of the movie, if not the year: “It’s the army — we’re safe!”) announces that the toxins hit first in densely populated areas but have been moving into areas with smaller populations. With typical military stupidity, he tells everyone to stay together (thus forming a population) but Elliot soon figures out they’ll be safer in small groups.
We’re told that an “event” like this will crest, then rapidly subside. So our central characters only have to survive until that happens, but they have no way of knowing when it will be.
The movie crests when the Moores take refuge in the home of Mrs. Jones (Betty Buckley), a wacky hermit.
Instead of giving himself a major role — one of many problems with “Lady in the Water” — Shyamalan literally phones in a cameo.
For more than half its economical length, “The Happening” is a highly effective creepfest. It may try too hard at times to be quirky, but a lot of that works. The script is full of red herrings, including marital difficulties between Elliot and Alma. At one point, we see smokestacks from what may be a nuclear power plant and later there’s a model home that recalls the nuclear test sites of the 1950s. Which kind of “plant” should we be worried about?
Even if it’s not perfect, “The Happening” never becomes a toxic waste of time. I’d recommend it over “The Incredible Hulk,” unless you only care about a lot of noise and visual effects.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 13, 2008.
 |
| TAKE OFF YOUR SWEATER VEST: As a science teacher/daddy, Wahlberg doesn’t show off his pecs. |
There was a time when I would have had to put a bag over Mark Wahlberg’s head to do him, but I’ve grown accustomed to his face. I’ve also grown accustomed to his torso, which he used to display in every movie. Not only doesn’t he show his pecs in “The Happening,” but he wears a sweater vest when the computer shows the temperature as 82 degrees.
“The Happening” is an inconvenient horror movie about man’s inhumanity to plants — and nature’s revenge. It’s more subtle than the ’50s horror movies where nuclear testing created giant insects, or the ’70s “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” Chiffon margarine commercials.
It also marks something of a return to form for writer-director-producer M. Night Shyamalan. Not “The Sixth Sense” form — that will always be the “Citizen Kane” against which his films are measured and found wanting — but the flawed fun form of “Unbreakable,” “Signs” and “The Village.” In that sense he’s baaaack from his “Lady in the Water” nadir.
If “The Happening” doesn’t jump the shark a few times, it at least gingerly tiptoes over it. Not only doesn’t it have one of Shyamalan’s surprise endings — he’s wisely stopped trying to top himself in that area — but it drops hints along the way of exactly how the situation will be resolved.
The strange occurrences begin in Central Park at 8:33 a.m. There are screams, people stop in their tracks, some begin walking backwards and some kill themselves. At 8:59 something similar happens three blocks away at a construction site.
At 9:45 in Philadelphia, Elliot Moore (Wahlberg) is teaching his biology class about vanishing honeybees, an unexplained natural phenomenon. He also teases Jake (Robert Lenzi), a student who looks hot and knows it, about how his looks will fade later if he’s perfect at 15.
Suddenly school is dismissed in response to the events in New York, initially thought to be a terrorist attack involving neurotoxins. Math teacher Julian (John Leguizamo), Elliot’s best friend, invites him to come along to his mother’s place in the country. Elliot gets his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), who’s dealing with a personal problem, while Julian fetches his 8-year-old daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) — his wife will meet them later — and they board a train.
The sense of panic slowly builds as news reports come in from all over the northeastern U.S. and the train dumps everyone in rural Pennsylvania. Julian goes off to look for his wife, leaving Jess in the care of the childless (her choice) Elliot and Alma. They get a ride with a nursery owner (Frank Collison) who has some strange theories about how plants might be responsible for what’s happening.
People gather at a crossroads and exchange reports of having seen bodies a few miles back in all four directions. A soldier (funniest line of the movie, if not the year: “It’s the army — we’re safe!”) announces that the toxins hit first in densely populated areas but have been moving into areas with smaller populations. With typical military stupidity, he tells everyone to stay together (thus forming a population) but Elliot soon figures out they’ll be safer in small groups.
We’re told that an “event” like this will crest, then rapidly subside. So our central characters only have to survive until that happens, but they have no way of knowing when it will be.
The movie crests when the Moores take refuge in the home of Mrs. Jones (Betty Buckley), a wacky hermit.
Instead of giving himself a major role — one of many problems with “Lady in the Water” — Shyamalan literally phones in a cameo.
For more than half its economical length, “The Happening” is a highly effective creepfest. It may try too hard at times to be quirky, but a lot of that works. The script is full of red herrings, including marital difficulties between Elliot and Alma. At one point, we see smokestacks from what may be a nuclear power plant and later there’s a model home that recalls the nuclear test sites of the 1950s. Which kind of “plant” should we be worried about?
Even if it’s not perfect, “The Happening” never becomes a toxic waste of time. I’d recommend it over “The Incredible Hulk,” unless you only care about a lot of noise and visual effects.
| THE HAPPENING | |
| C+ |
Director: M. Night Shyamalan Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, and Betty Buckley Opens: June 13 in wide release. 1 hr. 30 min. R |
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition June 13, 2008.
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