View Full Version : Saw The Happening
samureye
06-12-2008, 04:42 AM
Wow. I dunno what to say. Whalberg seemed to not be the ideal person in this role thought it wasn't unbearable. The gore, while for some may be no big was not my cup of tea. But eh, I paid money to see that, dunno if i want a refund or not as yet.
Not open in the states yet, is it?
7h0m45
06-12-2008, 06:12 AM
it will be out Friday, and i will be checking it out.
MaxTheSilent
06-12-2008, 06:20 AM
There's only two words that will get me into the theatre to see this: Zooey Deschanel.
Has there ever been a more perfect woman? Didn't think so...:p
http://www.fedge.net/~zdeschanel/images/hitchhikers/hhgttg10.jpg
puddlefish
06-12-2008, 06:59 AM
She is very pretty, but stupid "unique" spellings of otherwise popular names annoy me.
I saw this right after The Incredible Hulk this morning.
I thought it was pretty bad. The premise wasn't given its fair due, and was made to seem hokey. A lot of the dialogue is very very stagey and the acting is inconsistant. The ending is also a big letdown (not that I was looking for a "Shyamalan twist ®", but it was just a bad ending).
Worst part : The guy's very fake arm getting pulled off by the lion. laughable.
puddlefish
06-12-2008, 07:05 AM
Never realised she was Bones' sister.
MaxTheSilent
06-12-2008, 07:32 AM
Zooey's a couple of years younger than Emily.
Emily's much more a classic elegant beauty, where Zooey is more spunky and cute.
The perfect woman, basically.
just like all of his trailers.. they look amzingly interesting enough to pull you into the theater.. then the movies end up being "mm...meh"
i dunno, he seems to lure people in with trailers that tell a completely different story than the actual movie just to get sales.
At least to me thats what it seems.
valoharth
06-12-2008, 10:47 AM
There's only two words that will get me into the theatre to see this: Zooey Deschanel.
Has there ever been a more perfect woman? Didn't think so...:p
http://www.fedge.net/~zdeschanel/images/hitchhikers/hhgttg10.jpg
Kristen Bell, only by a bit though.
Have you listened to Zooey's album yet? She & Him is a fantastic album, it's in my Ipods regular shuffle.
darknessgp
06-12-2008, 03:35 PM
just like all of his trailers.. they look amzingly interesting enough to pull you into the theater.. then the movies end up being "mm...meh"
i dunno, he seems to lure people in with trailers that tell a completely different story than the actual movie just to get sales.
At least to me thats what it seems.
I thought the trailer looked interesting, but based on people's opinions of it seems I'll be better off torrenting it or renting it when it comes out.
samureye
06-12-2008, 05:15 PM
just like all of his trailers.. they look amzingly interesting enough to pull you into the theater.. then the movies end up being "mm...meh"
i dunno, he seems to lure people in with trailers that tell a completely different story than the actual movie just to get sales.
At least to me thats what it seems.
Definately. I saw the movie and then saw the trailer on TV and was like, ok, seeing this in context, I can see how people would be somewhat tricked. If you're into his movies, I guess you'd like it. I honestly felt like I got half a movie and the whole not knowing ANYTHING about a cause really makes me think hokey is good word to use.
puddlefish
06-13-2008, 12:24 AM
The thing is, in the right hands, this premise could work REALLY well.
Makes me not at all excited for the Avatar movies, I'm kinda hoping this does terrible and they give Avatar to someone else.
evilbaby
06-13-2008, 02:17 PM
The filmspotting guys (http://www.filmspotting.net) called the movie unwatchable. I'm listening to them right now calling it the complete de-evolution of Night as a film maker.
I guess I know what I'm doing tonight. Hulk smash!
This was a close one though. Glad I didn't go last night to see this.
shegs
06-13-2008, 05:09 PM
I dont know what to think, on some aspects I felt like goto a shamalan movie get a shamalan movie and I was ok with that... I didnt like whalburg in MOST scenes, he was too... placid, with no emotional connect to the world, the ring felt tacked on... hell his relationship with whats-er name felt lame.
I did like her eyes... when her whole eyes were big and BLUE she looked incredible...
all in all if I have to nitpick about what I liked maybe this isnt the best movie for everyone. if you dont like shamalany movies then you wont like this one, hell even if you do then you may not like the abruptness in which it ends. I enjoyed the explanation though and think that it was just enough to let us fill in our own blanks.
iccanui
06-13-2008, 10:38 PM
Ok im not reading anything about the movie, so forgive me, im skipping all the posts. Im really hoping that this is a descent horror kinda movie. I mean i get its not like a slasher movie or typical horror movie, at least to me ( freddy jason, etc ).
I just want to know if its worth seeing or its a totally let down. Im only going to scan for replies that have this quoted. Not trying to be anal, i just like to know ( like jeff) as little about the movie as possible and the trailers look interesting.
thnx guys
7h0m45
06-13-2008, 10:56 PM
i saw it today and did not hate it. it is my least favorite of his movies. i was enjoying it but was super pissed when there was not some awesome twist that i have come to expect from an M Night movie.
samureye
06-13-2008, 11:00 PM
Ok im not reading anything about the movie, so forgive me, im skipping all the posts. Im really hoping that this is a descent horror kinda movie. I mean i get its not like a slasher movie or typical horror movie, at least to me ( freddy jason, etc ).
I just want to know if its worth seeing or its a totally let down. Im only going to scan for replies that have this quoted. Not trying to be anal, i just like to know ( like jeff) as little about the movie as possible and the trailers look interesting.
thnx guys
It's not that. You want to see people getting killed? You get that, but I would not call it a horror.
ramshaw
06-13-2008, 11:02 PM
Haven't read any of the previous posts in case of spoilers I'm going to see it tomorrow evening.
iccanui
06-14-2008, 01:19 AM
It's not that. You want to see people getting killed? You get that, but I would not call it a horror.
Let me rephrase
Is it worth seeing ? Thats all i need to know.
Sorry, i know im beeing a ... whatever ... but i would like to see one fairly good unspoiled movie. Where i dont know much about out so i cant get hyped or downed. But in the same respect i dont want to waste time and money cause i want to see zohan and speed racer and a few others too.
shegs
06-14-2008, 01:24 AM
Let me rephrase
Is it worth seeing ? Thats all i need to know.
Sorry, i know im beeing a ... whatever ... but i would like to see one fairly good unspoiled movie. Where i dont know much about out so i cant get hyped or downed. But in the same respect i dont want to waste time and money cause i want to see zohan and speed racer and a few others too.
asnwering that is difficult... the premis and what could happen is awesome. but the acting ia atrocious. if you can handle shamalammy movies then you should probably go see this. if you disliked ANY oh his older I would go see HULK again instead.
puddlefish
06-14-2008, 03:48 AM
The more I think about this movie the more I realise how TERRIBLE it is. In almost every way.... sure, she was cute in it, but awful perfomances all around, and a script that read like a child's creative writing excercise. Yeeeesh.
esophagus
06-14-2008, 04:29 AM
It's not that. You want to see people getting killed? You get that, but I would not call it a horror.
I think thats part of the problem. Everyone is content with M. Night making movies that aren't all out horrors. Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, and I hear some people even liked Signs and The Village. Then, he decided to market this as his first no-holds-barred, horror, R-Rated movie, and from what I've heard it is actually fairly tame.
puddlefish
06-14-2008, 05:43 AM
It's really tame, the bits that could have been good gore moments were ruined by either terrible make up (fake arm + lions) or pulling the camera away before you really see anything.
shegs
06-14-2008, 08:08 AM
It's really tame, the bits that could have been good gore moments were ruined by either terrible make up (fake arm + lions) or pulling the camera away before you really see anything.
but that would have made Hostelesque which would have ruined it more.
I think the level of gore is fine, gore does not equal horror. I cant pinpoint what exactly is wrong with this movie... beyond the horrendous acting everything else "should" be good but I feel it is missing some other key ingredient.
pepperen
06-14-2008, 08:51 AM
I thought it was a terrible movie, the people didn't interest me and the acting went from weird to outright hilarious. Really bad, i'll give it a 3/10.
puddlefish
06-14-2008, 09:44 AM
but that would have made Hostelesque which would have ruined it more.
I think the level of gore is fine, gore does not equal horror. I cant pinpoint what exactly is wrong with this movie... beyond the horrendous acting everything else "should" be good but I feel it is missing some other key ingredient.
I completely agree that gore does not equal horror, I was merely commenting on the big deal that has been made about this being his first R film.
There was a lot wrong with this besides the acting. The writing was horrible, and the directing for the most part was boring. Cuting to wind blowing through trees isn't scary.
shegs
06-14-2008, 09:59 AM
yea, I agree completely... this movie has alot of problems, even for a shamalammy movie
johnnysix
06-15-2008, 08:34 AM
OMG! I just came back from seeing this movie and I have to say it's got to be one of the worst films I have ever seen. I can only think that this is some kind of middle finger to everyone who thinks Shaymalan relies too heavily on twists. There is not one iota of consistancy in the plotting of this film. From the get go, every character is acting like they're on acid. It's terrible in almost every way. I think Shaymalan is great at creating genuinely tense scenes but I felt like every scene in this film was some kind of red herring or misdirection. It was genuinely tense, but when I walked out of the theatre I felt like I'd been done over by the guy thats making the Avatar film. I wanted to love this movie and ended up hating it. I loved The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs and thought The Lady in The Water was okay.
darknessgp
06-15-2008, 01:56 PM
I saw it yesterday, liked it. It's not great, but I wouldn't call it bad either. That said, I can see why people wouldn't like it, and the only thing I can say is that I wish I could share with them how I see movies.
tink2112
06-15-2008, 02:47 PM
I saw it yesterday, liked it. It's not great, but I wouldn't call it bad either. That said, I can see why people wouldn't like it, and the only thing I can say is that I wish I could share with them how I see movies.
thank god. i thought i was the only one who didnt hate this movie. i will agree its not the best movie of his, but for sheer entertainment i enjoyed it. the acting was not great, but i really enjoyed some of the funny parts parsed throughout. if you can suspend your disbelief and kinda take it at face value without trying to apply it to the real world, i'd say its alright.
Can someone PM me what actually caused the "happening" I'm idly curious but I refuse to see this movie
poltah
06-16-2008, 03:40 PM
Can someone PM me what actually caused the "happening" I'm idly curious but I refuse to see this movie
Wikipedia dude.
Wiki'd (didn't think it would have any spoilers) and... RIDICULOUS
antibiker
06-16-2008, 03:59 PM
All I can say is that The Happening is definitely the best comedy this summer.
There was at least 6-7 parts where I was crying from laughing at this movie, along with everyone else in the theatre.
jessicaphan
06-16-2008, 06:34 PM
I was really disappointed in this movie. I'm not sure what I expected out of it, but along with all of the bad acting and the awkward moments (with like the mean old woman who really served no point.), I felt like the message was so blatant and so shoved down your throat. Also, I'm sure the twist was that there was no twist.
jessicaphan
06-16-2008, 06:39 PM
All I can say is that The Happening is definitely the best comedy this summer.
There was at least 6-7 parts where I was crying from laughing at this movie, along with everyone else in the theatre.
yeah, I saw it on opening night and a ton of people laughed during parts of the movie I'm sure wasn't supposed to be funny, lol
tsmith15
06-16-2008, 07:36 PM
There's only two words that will get me into the theatre to see this: Zooey Deschanel.
Has there ever been a more perfect woman? Didn't think so...:p
Word! Although I like Marky Mark too.
I found the film very mediocre, and there was a lot of stuff that was "what the hell?" I liked the idea, but the screenplay/script didn't stand up.
Also? the way Mark Wahlberg? was speaking? really annoyed me?
And lastly, it was a bit reminiscent of the Nic Cage Wicker Man. There was one line Wahlberg delivered where the punctuation was all wrong, and it totally reminded me of "How'd it get burned!?"
nycest
06-16-2008, 08:14 PM
After watching this movie, with which I was very dissapointed, something hit me. M. Night Whats-his-face needs to do another ghost story movie. The bigger he tries to go with this stories, and more epic he tries to become, the more it fails.
The whole part with the old lady and the house with the slave shack really made me wish that had been a movie in itself. The woman was creepy, and there was plenty to do with that.
We all laughed with the lion part...hilarious! Reminded me of Anchorman.
but seriously, M. Night needs to think smaller, and stop trying to wow everyone with these concepts which are just disappointing.
darknessgp
06-16-2008, 10:16 PM
After watching this movie, with which I was very dissapointed, something hit me. M. Night Whats-his-face needs to do another ghost story movie. The bigger he tries to go with this stories, and more epic he tries to become, the more it fails.
The whole part with the old lady and the house with the slave shack really made me wish that had been a movie in itself. The woman was creepy, and there was plenty to do with that.
We all laughed with the lion part...hilarious! Reminded me of Anchorman.
but seriously, M. Night needs to think smaller, and stop trying to wow everyone with these concepts which are just disappointing.
Really I feel like he thinks that he always has to have weird shit in his movies. Like the old woman. The old house that they were at before, with the at least one person made a lot of sense. I could see some hillbilly boarding up his house and stopping anyone that tries to break in. I mean, I totally saw that part coming before he cracked open the door, but the woman didn't make any sense, nor was there an explanation for her other than she's been alone for years and years. To me she felt like she was only in there because M. Night didn't think it was making people go "WTF?!" enough.
I think a ghost movie would work, though I agree with you to me it seems like he's really trying hard to get the wow like what he got from The Sixth Sense, Signs, or Unbreakable.
excalipoor
06-17-2008, 01:28 AM
There's only two words that will get me into the theatre to see this: Zooey Deschanel.
Has there ever been a more perfect woman? Didn't think so...:p
http://www.fedge.net/~zdeschanel/images/hitchhikers/hhgttg10.jpg
i like her too, but she looked really dead in the movie. a bit scary. M NIGHT RUINED IT! His scripts need editing or please let someone else write it for him!
excalipoor
06-17-2008, 01:31 AM
i saw it today and did not hate it. it is my least favorite of his movies. i was enjoying it but was super pissed when there was not some awesome twist that i have come to expect from an M Night movie.
I didn't expect a twist from him. It's getting stale to see his movies just for the twist. Besides, do you wanna see a twist in Avatar?
excalipoor
06-17-2008, 01:34 AM
All I can say is that The Happening is definitely the best comedy this summer.
There was at least 6-7 parts where I was crying from laughing at this movie, along with everyone else in the theatre.
we all love marky mark talking to a fake plant.
tsmith15
06-17-2008, 02:09 AM
we all love marky mark talking to a fake plant.
I almost shit myself, that was awesome.
antibiker
06-17-2008, 04:51 AM
For me, the whole pharmacy story took the cake.
That and the look on Zooeys face and her saying "How could you?"
jessicaphan
06-17-2008, 04:52 AM
LOL same. that was actually really cute :)
habs-geek
06-17-2008, 05:34 AM
I don't post here much, but when I see a movie as bad as this one, I just have to say something.
*Spoilers* I need to vent
First of all, unbelievably bad acting, especially from Wahlberg, and I usually enjoy his movies. Maybe I've just never seen him in a movie playing such a mild-mannered character. I found Zooey to be marginally better, simply because her neurotic character just didn't seem that much of a stretch. Leguizamo was awful, "You want me to give you some numbers? There's a 62% chance it hasn't hit insert town name yet." WTF?? Just because you're a math teacher you can come up with probabilities on the direction and severity of the spread of some neurotoxin that no one on earth knows anything about? Every line felt like Shyamalan was thinking, "what would the stereotypical Science teacher say in this situation?"
A lot of the gory scenes were overdone and yet did feel like that was on purpose, in hopes to get some uncomfortable laughter. I will admit there were scenes where I chuckled to myself, but I don't think I ever really laughed through the entire movie. The moments that were meant to be funny merely felt awkward to me. There were some scenes that were genuinely disturbing and caught my interest, but they comprised a small portion of the movie.
The premise itself is something I do find interesting. But I did feel it was very poorly executed. I felt completely ripped off at the way the crazy lady's house scene ended, and more ripped off at the actual conclusion of the movie. I hated the horror movie cliche ending, you know the "we think the threat is over, but it's not". That may work great in zombie movies, but in this one I just felt cheated.
I didn't go into the theatre expecting a Shyamalanian twist, but ended up only staying through the entire movie in hopes that he would completely blow my mind and salvage this garbage movie with some intense twisty ending. I was thoroughly disappointed.
Mr. Night, I would like my money back.
enemybrick
06-17-2008, 06:37 AM
Whats great about being a big Shyamalan fan, is that you can always say this..
"It was shitty on purpose!"
Wait till the next one guys, it's going to blow our fucking skulls off, he;s genius on a level we can't comprehend yet.
jessicaphan
06-17-2008, 04:25 PM
Whats great about being a big Shyamalan fan, is that you can always say this..
"It was shitty on purpose!"
Wait till the next one guys, it's going to blow our fucking skulls off, he;s genius on a level we can't comprehend yet.
yeah, a few of my friends were talking about how this one is so bad that he has to have something up his sleeve
I don't know. I hope, I guess.
ddombrow
06-17-2008, 04:30 PM
So I went to see this movie on opening night, I have been a die-hard Shyamalan fan since Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. I even totally dug the Village and Lady in the Water, which most people seem to dislike.
This one let me down. Let me count the ways.
Story: Usually I can count on his movies to do something new storywise I haven't seen before on screen. This one looks like he looked up Colony Collapse Disorder on Wikipedia and went... "What if?". Then in the execution of this premise he basically pulled out every zombie movie cliche in the book.
Characters: I always love the characters in his movies. From Bruce Willis's quiet doctor facade to Paul Giamatti's stuttering nervous handyman they all were interesting and likable. Marky Mark and that Zooey girl are just boring and emotionless in comparison. John Leguizamo has the best character by far but we don't get to see much of it at all.
Someone I saw it with told me Shyamalan claimed he was trying to make a B-movie, only good. He succeeded in one part of that goal, it felt like a crappy B-movie with high production values. If it actually had a good script and characters I cared about, I might have actually liked it.
absolutemayhem
06-17-2008, 05:05 PM
I saw the movie and people make some good points in their reviews. I don’t know if it was because I had no expectations or at least low expectations, but I left the movie thinking it had a good message, I would have just liked a bit more closure at the end.
It seems like a lot of people commented on how bad Wahlberg was, I would not exactly say it was bad acting, I do think it was just bad casting. I am not really sure why you would want Wahlberg in that role. I think for me, I'm used to Wahlberg being a bit more animated. He had his dramatic moments, but he struggled to pull off the everyday guy. And I kind of found it hard to swallow the high school science teacher role. I expected at some point he would be some “ex-military” guy that was recognized by some passing national guards or something. Nope, just a plan old high school science teacher. I think I am to used to him being more of an action star/hero. Movies like shooter, Departed, Invincible and Italian Job. He had no gun, no fight, there might have been 1-2 heated scenes, never really any good action sequences. I kind of give Knight a bit of credit for putting Wahlberg in a different light, but I just don’t think it worked. Since he cast Wahlberg as the lead the whole time I was expecting him to do something, but that never came. They should have tried a different dramatic lead. Knight pulled it off with 6th Sense and Bruce Willis.
** Spoiler **
I did not mind the whole "environment" comment Knight tried to make, but I felt that maybe something hit the edit room floor that might have made the movie a bit more full circle. I left wondering why all the references to the mood ring? Plus it was also misleading near the beginning when the vehicle went to Princeton with John Leguizamo's character .. can trees/grass count? that did not make sense to me... maybe if it was a bus and not a jeep. Looking back maybe it was the total population, but the early premise it set was bad, considering the jeep with Wahlberg has about the same number of people and they weren't infected. I'm usually pretty good at understanding that every single shot costs money so every thing is/should be there for a reason. Another shot of the rip in the canvas of the jeep also did not really make any sense. Have these people never been in a canvas jeep. a small rip like that is not going to keep AIR out .. the canvas basically offers shelter from rain/snow/sunlight not much from the air.
Also the whole math teacher thing did not really click except to leave Wahlberg with a kid to take care of for the reminder of the movie. As a parent myself, I could not leave my kid in the hands of my best friend to run off and MAYBE save my wife some somelikely poisonous gas, at 63% or what ever he said. Did this guy not see the movie “I, Robot” you save the kid regardless of the %? That whole character could have likely been cut and just had the kid be a random orphan. It just did not work for me.
Also the school references did not really make much sense, Science teacher, Math teacher? References to people get comfort from %'s .. maybe some tie into groups of people? The references to the bees never really went anywhere either? Not really.
The movie was release in the summer, people are out at parks and outside more, if this movie had been more effective, when I look out my office window to the park filled with maple trees and edged by a small forest/medow I should have gotten shivers when a ghostly hand pushes the trees around in the wind .. nope nothing. I'm not talking to the trees and asking them to spare me.
Again, I did not mind the movie, but I saw it at a small theatre for like $6 so its much more than a DVD rental. But looking back on the movie, it had some gapping flaws. I do not plan on adding this to my DVD collection.
Will I go see another M. Knight movie? Yes, but I have given up expectations for another "Signs" or "6th Sense" or "Unbreakable".
-MayheM
kilroyperrywinkle
06-17-2008, 07:12 PM
Plants?
Plants?
I'm so not seeing this...
stubadub
06-17-2008, 07:58 PM
I had low expectations that were made even lower by the universal hatred directed towards this film, but my expectations were still too high.
Worst movie ever.
darknessgp
06-17-2008, 08:10 PM
...
** Spoiler **
The references to the bees never really went anywhere either? Not really...
I think that reference was more of a "Shit happens that we can't explain". And it did "go somewhere" the scientist on the tv at the end of the movie gave the same answer as the student did about the bees.
Also, did anyone else not get the "save the environment" message? Cause I didn't until a friend tried to explain to me what he though M. Night was trying to say. Honestly, I think you could take it a few ways. 1) We need to clean up our act for keeping the environment. 2) It doesn't matter what we do, it's too late. 3) We need to go all the way and kill all the plants. Seriously, they would have been safe if they had found a place without plants, like a gigantic parking lot or something.
iggystar
06-17-2008, 08:16 PM
Whats great about being a big Shyamalan fan, is that you can always say this..
"It was shitty on purpose!"
Nah, I'm an M. Night fan and he's starting to fall from grace. I might have excused him with The Village, which wasn't horrible, but not great. I gave him a small pass with Lady in the Water which was bad, but that's two in a row, no more excuses.
I've heard such horrible things about The Happening that I'm not even going to bother at all.
enemybrick
06-17-2008, 08:18 PM
Roger Ebert actually gave the movie a good review.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/REVIEWS/545929629
"I suspect I'll be in the minority in praising this film. It will be described as empty, uneventful, meandering. But for some, it will weave a spell. It is a parable, yes, but it is also simply the story of these people and how their lives and existence have suddenly become problematic. We depend on such a superstructure to maintain us that one or two alterations could leave us stranded and wandering through a field, if we are that lucky."
stubadub
06-17-2008, 08:25 PM
Also, did anyone else not get the "save the environment" message? Cause I didn't until a friend tried to explain to me what he though M. Night was trying to say. Honestly, I think you could take it a few ways. 1) We need to clean up our act for keeping the environment. 2) It doesn't matter what we do, it's too late. 3) We need to go all the way and kill all the plants. Seriously, they would have been safe if they had found a place without plants, like a gigantic parking lot or something.
I thought the "we're killing the planet, save the environment" message was pretty heavy handed.
Killing all the plants would mean everyone was still fucked with no oxygen producing abilities. Of course, there is no reason to believe that logic was ever used when the script was written.
You would think since they kept stopping within 50 yards of dead bodies that just getting to a metropolitan area should be enough, since they go so far as to say how quickly the poison dissipates, but it looked like the plants loacted in Central Park was enough to kill all of New York City.
This movie is so completely retarded it defies all reason.
tectec
06-19-2008, 05:56 AM
This was a sucky movie
taozoo4u
06-19-2008, 06:17 AM
This movie was so completely terrible.
first of all Mark Wahlberg had a confused look on his face the entire movie even when there was nothing to be confused about. The acting was terrible, for example when Elliot, Alma and Jess were at Mrs. Jones' house and Elliot was upstairs Mrs. Jones asks Elliot something about killing her in her sleep and his response was not believable at all. I agree with Alex, Marky Mark and the funky bunch talked to everyone like a 5 year old, speaking of 5 year old the little girl in the movie was also not good. Who says "Ya know, just hanging in there" at that young of an age? I still have no idea about what happened something about plants and if you are in large groups then the plants will kill you and global warming is the cause of everything. that's basically all i got.
johnnysix
06-19-2008, 07:20 AM
********SPOILER ZONE***************
I still don't get how it could have been the plants??? They were standing in grass and around plants for most of the movie. It goes against every single rule of a great mystery. Surely if your going to have something that's killing people, whether it be a man, a monster, aliens, plants or goldfish, then you need to establish rules around how it operates? You can't have one group of people standing in in the grass and some other people standing in the same grass and have one group killed and the others not. The film basically contradicts itself numerous times, so when it's finished, the audience feels like they've been ripped off.
It's like when movies have twists, but have no indication or clues throughout the film. You need to give the audience something to hold onto. Signs, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are great because at the end, you put all these clues together and you feel like the film had a purpose. I realize that this film is different but to me it felt like a movie that needed a twist so bad that it absolutely failed to be about anything at all. It's a film about a series of events.... and that's it. It's not even an examination of character because all the characters are stereotypical and act like they're on acid from beginning to end. Most of the tension building in this film is completely arbitrary. Is the viewer supposed to be tense when they are standing in the wind, when we saw the characters standing in the wind a number of times throughout the film and nothing happened??? Or maybe when the crazy lady gets even crazier... for no reason!! Give me some rules... or a framework!!! It's so absolutely obvious when Marky Mark is talking to the class about the bees, that Shaymalan wants us to apply these theories to "The Happening". It's about as subtle as a brick in the face and then he proceeds to throw 50 different crackpot theories at us throughout the film. Every one of them delivered by somebody in serious need of medication, and every one of them conflicting with things we've seen or things we've been told.....and then the credits role.....WTF??? I totally felt like I missed a reel or something. The movie not only needed a twist to explain what was happening, but why everyone was acting and reacting so unnaturally. I gave serious thought during the film to the theory that all the characters were infected with something that made them delusional. That this was all some kind of weird nightmare where everyone acts all shitty.
The film could have been a great idea for an exploration of the notion of mass hysteria. I remember a great X-Files episode about mass hysteria and how one persons fear feeds another's.