The Happening (M. Night Shyamalan, 2008)

[LavaLamp]

Re-watched The Happening to see if I would like it any better the second time. I didn't - it's still one of the worst films I've ever seen.

I typically like "end of the world" scenarios if they're well-done, but I (like it seems most others who saw the film) just don't understand what was so threatening about plants/trees. The whole premise of their releasing "toxins" in the air because they felt threatened was patently ludicrous. Sure, it may not be any more logical than dead people coming back to life and attacking the living (i.e., any of the zombie films & TV shows out there), but at least those films/TV shows can be entertaining.

It would have been a lot better if M. Night had made a big-budget Day of the Triffids re-make. However, I know he probably wouldn't have wanted to go that way since a film like that wouldn't have been an original idea of his - plus, it would have been astronomically more expensive than the minimal effects we saw in The Happening...

[thirtyframesasecond]

Disney+ has the early MNS films (TSS to this, at least) and I was morbidly curious about The Happening because it sits right in the middle of what seems to be MNS's mid-career slump. This isn't a great film, but it's not terrible, and I guess you can say that about many MNS films. The opening scenes are certainly powerful - from Central Park to the Manhattan building site. The premise is either profound like a Wyndham or dumb as rocks - take your pick. For a 90 minute movie, it kind of sagged in the middle but fundamentally the Wahlberg/Deschanel pairing is the deadweight here - if you'd cast it better and given them a better backstory, you'd have a better film. I like the sort of non-resolved The Birds-like ending, but even that's not quite the end. You've got half a decent film and half a bad one.

[colinr0380]

That moment of Wahlberg talking warily to a potted plant and trying to bargain with it, only to find out it is made out of plastic, justifies the entire film for me.