A brief (by my standards) NON-SPOILER review.
Well, it happened. I had my first experience with AMC Theatre’s new movie pricing. Ouch! It has been forever since I’ve went to a movie on a Friday or Saturday night so I knew there would be no discounts applied, but ugh! 10 bucks a pop! $20 for my wife and I to see a movie!!! I could literally have waited and purchased the DVD for that price. And possibly had some change for a Pepsi left over. That is painful!
The saddest thing about the experience was that The Happening turned out to be a film that I truly am not interested in owning. That too is a first for me as I have thoroughly enjoyed each of M. Night Shyamalan’s films up to this point. I fully realize that last statement may cause uproar in the blogging community, but I have to be honest. I liked Sixth Sense, Unbreakable (easily my favorite), Signs, The Village, and Lady in the Water. While I certainly have various levels of attachment to them, all five films were successful in my book. Each film entertained me and intrigued me enough that I have watched them more than once.
The Happening….didn’t.
To further set the stage: I am a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan, Mark Wahlberg, and Zooey Deschanel, and am a fan of the atmospheric, creepy horror film genre. Despite it’s less than stellar critical reviews, there was no way that I was passing up the opportunity to see this movie on opening night…on Friday the 13th no less!!!
The good: The whole suicide thing that you see on the television commercials…that was INTENSE!!! It was a truly horrifying, visceral experience that carried through the entire film. It worked and was done well. The close-to-the-end scene in the creepy house inhabited by an old, deliciously eerie Betty Buckley…fantastic! It is rare that I am truly scared in a film but that whole scene had me on the edge of my seat, heart racing.
The bad: For some inexplicable reason Wahlberg, Deschanel, and John Leguizamo act more wooden than Pinnochio for the first quarter of the movie. Then, after a particular event happens leading to tears from our main actors, the acting becomes more genuine and real. I cannot explain it. It had to be on purpose, but I am not sure what it accomplished. Zooey Deschanel (who is one of my favorite actresses) was so bizarre and lifeless at the beginning of the movie that I initially suspected her character was mentally ill.
More bad: Way too preachy of a message. I don’t mind movies having a message. I generally don’t mind if the message is way more obvious than it needs to be if the film is done well. And in many ways The Happening is done well…that is what makes the overall message of the film such a destructive presence.
I cannot say more without spoiling the film. For the way it was filmed and the overall creepiness factor I give Shyamalan 4 out of 4 stars. Once the wooden acting was over I was really into the film. But when the credits rolled and no one…and I truly mean no one…in a packed theater had anything to say I think that speaks for the film’s overall quality loud and clear. (An interesting side note: I should have suspected something bad when the showing before ours ended and a large crowd came out, silent, with stunned looks on their faces).
Overall I give this effort a 2 out of 4 stars, and that is me being generous because of my affection for M. Night and because Zooey was cute to look at. If you’re going to see it, go to the cheapest showing you can. You’ll thank me later.
___________________________________________
On an unrelated note:
I hope all the fathers out there had a wonderful Father’s Day and I wish you all a happy belated Father’s Day! I had a wonderful day. Mary bought us breakfast from Einstein Bros bagels (everything bagel with cream cheese and a cinnamon twist….mmmm!!!), made a delicious chicken recipe (some variety of soup and stuffing all cooked together…double mmmm!!!), and she made me a scrumptious chocolate cream pie. I received a boxed set of Agatha Christie’s Poirot DVDs from Mary and a very cool pen from Tori. We laid around all day relaxing. I read several stories to Mary out of Susanna Clarke’s The Ladies of Grace Adieu and we watched Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (yes, I am embarrassed to admit that I had not seen it), finished the last 3 episodes of My So Called Life (that is a series that should never have ended prematurely) and watched one of my new Poirot films: Death on the Nile.
It was such a wonderful weekend that it makes up for the fact (almost) that I will be without internet service at home for the week. Hopefully I can squeeze some break time in at work during the week and you dear readers won’t even notice.
Don’t forget to either email me or leave a comment here if you have finished your quest(s) for the Once Upon a Time II Challenge. I don’t want you to miss out on being in the drawing for the end of the challenge Prize Pack!
Yays, Poirot movies! I love them so.
I’ve missed out on a challenge again, in spite of my wishes to the contrary. Sigh. If only I had infinite time to read and talk about reading…
P.S. I kind of lost all interest in The Happening when I heard what The Secret was in a post describing it as an “intelligent design” thriller. What do you think of that description, out of curiosity? I’m not really curious enough to go see it myself to find out. 😉
I certainly don’t know where they got that idea, RB. If anything I would categorize the message of the film as more on the liberal/pro-evolution side of things.
My son (who is a huge film buff ,like me) went to see The Happening this weekend.He came home at 1 a.m. and woke me up just to tell me how horrible it was! LOL He is also a fan of M. Night Shyamalan and was so disappointed. He said the same of the acting and the dialogue,in particular.He was also annoyed at how the “message” of the film was delivered.
Glad you had a wonderful weekend overall 🙂
Glad to hear you had such a wonderful weekend! You definitely deserved it! Just sorry the movie let you down. 🙁
Four down and one to go!! You can read my updates on Blood and Memory by Fiona McIntosh and The Magician’s Nephew here:
http://insideabook.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the encouragement!
Tough movie news though – Just pop some popcorn, turn down the lights and plug in Poirot! You’ll be better in no time!
I’ve finished 5 books that fit into the challenge’s Quest the First though I didn’t finish all the books I listed as planned reading! So technically I finished the challenge, but I’ll be continuing on to finish all the books I planned to read.
Darn it, it’s the next film on my list of films to see. I had a feeling it might go the way that you’ve described, my brother was similarly disappointed. Such a pity because I really do love his other films! I taught The Village as a coursework unit and it went down really well.
Sympathies on your ticket prices, sounds familiar. Do they over charge you for snacks and parking too over there?
Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy the film. Must admit I am a little worried..the Happening has been THE film I am excited about this year and I have a very bad feeling that I am going to be disappointed. I love Night’s work and the trailer looked soo good! But hey, I love Signs best, and that was panned by most of my friends..Night’s films do tend to have a divided audience. So fingers crossed I might still love it! Enjoy Poirot!
oh, thats a pity to hear. i was quite curious about this, having enjoyed unbreakable and sort-of enjoyed “the village” (having enjoyed “the sixth sense” goes without saying).
but i’ll be a bit more wary now.
i must say, i personally don’t know what wahlberg is doing half of the time. here and there he looks like he can do this job but most of the time he just looks like marky mark trying to act.
i think i’ll wait to rent this…
JP: Unbreakable is my favorite and I think that has alot to do with it being a comic book movie. That and the fact that I just didn’t see that end coming.
Mariel: I certainly wish you the best. I hate not liking this one, but I just couldn’t drum up any positive feelings beyond those I shared in the review.
Stormfilled: Thankfully there is no paying for parking, but yes they do overcharge on snack items!
Aichaku: Great! I rarely read all the books I initially plan on in any challenge because so many tempting alternatives come along from reading other people’s lists! 🙂
Gaye: I’ll check it out. And yes, Poirot did indeed help wash the bad taste away, as did Master and Commander.
Debi: Thanks!
Rebecca: Well let your son know that he has my sympathies!
Yeah I heard it sucked. I even heard what it was. Yucchhh!! Come on enough with the…you know. And to add insult Karen and I watched the last Battlestar last night DVR. After 3 years waiting we got that?!! You got to be kidding. Does Al Gore write every hollywood ending?
Tom, I believe there are still 10 more BSG episodes left. I just don’t know how long we will have to wait to see them.
Carl, I think I’ll wait for the DVD to watch Happening.
I’m so out of touch, I didn’t realize that he had a new one out! I really loved both Signs and The Sixth Sense and also enjoyed The Village until mid-way when the big “secret” was revealed (then I felt it was corny). I’ll have to give Lady in the Water a try soon.
I definitely feel your pain when it comes to the new ticket prices. For a while there I was getting by with my old college student ID, but then I lost it and had to pay full price. Wowzer! Let’s just say I’m a whole lot more picky about what I choose to see at the theater. Which is why I decided to save my money on this one, although I was somewhat intrigued by the trailers. I think I’ll definitely wait to see this one on DVD.
J.S.: It is quite possible my opinion on the movie could have been somewhat less harsh had I redboxed this from McDonald’s for $1.09 rather than paying $20 for it! 🙂
Stephanie: Lady in the Water is very odd and I think if you enter it knowing that this was a fairy story that he made up for his kids then you’ll enjoy it.
James, Tom: Back to back comments!!! Its like the old days! 🙂
What a frickin bummer about the Happening! I’m still going to see it though :p I’m a huge Shyamalan fan, but I really do hate preachy movies so I’m afraid I may have the same reaction…we’ll see. My sister saw it and liked it, but we typically don’t like the same movies…not a good sign.
Happy belated father’s day to you!! Sounds like a great one Carl!
Thanks Chris! Maybe you’ll have the more fortunate reaction of having heard so many bad things, and have low expectations, and will actually enjoy it.
I so have to agree with you. The message *was* preachy, and Shyamalan doesn’t even hide that in the interviews…I expected something else at the end but it didn’t happen… The atmosphere was intense though, especially at the beginning, and forgetting the acting. It didn’t help that almost the whole theatre was laughing out loud at the most eerie and scary (for me) scenes…you’d think it was a comedy movie!
Valentina: the atmosphere was intense, but it doesn’t surprised me that people laughed. Frankly I expected that in our showing once it got rolling but was glad that it didn’t happen. I do think the intense scenes were just that, intense, and they worked really well as horrific moments. Too bad there wasn’t a good movie worked in around those scenes.
Thanks for the review! I haven’t seen the movie, but now because of so many bad reviews, I might just wait until it comes out on DVD.
Such an interesting and thoughtful review, and I agree with you on all points – except that all those points led me to think it was a good movie – not great, but good. I loved that there wasn’t the typical Shyamalan twist, which was a twist in some ways – if that makes sense.
But I definitely see how it felt preachy – although I guess I agreed with the message and thought it might be a useful one.
The atmosphere – wow! I held my hand over my mouth for most of the film just so I wouldn’t scream.
Bummer!! I have to admit, M. Night has been letting me down. I loved Sixth Sense (can you believe I had the wonderful experience of seeing it in the theater when it first came out and knowing NOTHING about it and getting so caught up in the narrative that I didn’t see the ending coming?), and Unbreakable, and The Village. However, I just rented Lady In The Water and I couldn’t even finish it.
It takes a LOT for me to turn off a movie half-way through.
A LOT.
Anyway, I just had a gander at the plot on Wikipedia as I probably won’t see this. Interesting idea, I’ve toyed around with it myself in the various n’ sundry. The mass suicide thing is horrifying… maybe too horrifying!
Elizabeth…sorry to hear you didn’t like Lady, I just loved that one. You really should finish it sometime, but to each his own…especially in M. Night’s case. I too am glad I saw Sixth Sense right away and didn’t know, or catch, anything about it until just a half step before it was revealed. That was a fun theater experience!
Andi: It certainly isn’t that I disagree with the message, I just think it would have been a better film if it wasn’t so obvious all the way through and so heavy handed. The message, creeping up subtly, would have been much more powerful and would have made for a better experience. I’m glad you enjoyed it. As I said, there were certainly things I liked and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, but afterwards I was kind of like…meh! I didn’t mind that it didn’t have a big twist…except for (SPOILERS)
I assume from the quote on the blackboard at the beginning that humanity will all be dead within 4 years.
(SPOILERS ENDED)
Vasilly: Save your money.
Well you weren’t such a celebrity back then.
Tom: uh….yeah! 😉
Some folks at work saw the Happening over the weekend and they’re opinion was pretty much in line with yours – I think this is one I’m just gonna take a pass on…
BTW, My wife and I saw “Priceless” over the weekend and it was really great – thanks for the recommendation!
Glad you both enjoyed it Ken. It was really fun. I was looking at Audrey Tautou films on Netflix today, coincidentally, and bumped up one that I hadn’t seen before.
so, carl, would this be a good movie with no expectations? I mean, I’m in the mood to see something that I don’t have to think about, that might scare the heck out of me, and that I can relate to in some creative way for my writing.
Jennifer 8 was like this for me. Not too many people liked this movie, but it served a really creative purpose for me to finish a long writing project back in the early 90’s.
Gosh, I’m getting old.
Gather ye rosebuds, while ye may….. 🙂
If that is what you are looking for Rusvw, I say ‘go for it! Just try not to pay full price if you can get by with it! 🙂