A lot of people disliked M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Happening'. A major reason for that, in my opinion, is because bad marketers keep trying to promote Shyamalan's films as spooky, summer-blockbuster thrillers like 'The Sixth Sense' when, in fact, they're far from it.
Take for instance the tag line for this movie: "We've Sensed It. We've Seen The Signs. Now... It's Happening." WTF?! 'The Happening' is not a paranormal thriller or alien invasion movie. Why the heck is it being marketed as one?
It is because of all this crappy marketing that viewers go into cinemas expecting to be frightened or, at the very least, weirded-out. When that doesn't happen (on doesn't happen in the way they were expecting it to happen) they get upset. Hence the poor reviews.
Not a Spooky Movie
I, on the other hand, really liked the movie. Before I explain why, let me clarify a few things. This film is not a spooky, supernatural thriller (like 'The Sixth Sense'). It is not a hero movie (like 'Unbreakable'). Heck, it's not even about faith (like 'Signs').
It is, however, about a bunch of regular everyday people trying to stay alive when the world around them is going to hell and they have no idea why. In many ways, it's like Steven Spielberg's 'War of the Worlds' (another film that many critics and viewers didn't like) in which Tom Cruise's character -- a not-so-bright, not-so-smart, not-so-successful regular Joe -- does the best he can given the circumstances he finds himself in. And one of the main reasons he stays alive is because he gets lucky; i.e. it's not because he's a great leader, quick thinker, or is otherwise larger than life.
'The Happening' is, in fact, very much a good old-fashioned science fiction story. And I don't mean a Hollywood 'sci-fi' story but a 1950s or 60s classic 's.f.' story. One written by H.G. Wells or John Wyndham. Or of the kind that Clarke and Asimov might have written: an understated, cerebral, but still oh-my-god-what-an-awesome-concept type of story.
Very Real
So, keeping that in mind, I loved how the movie was done so realistically. I mean, seriously, if something like this was to happen in real life, would you expect to find yourself in a typical Hollywood action-thriller-disaster movie or in one of Shyamalan's? I know I'd expect to find myself in the latter.
There's a point in the movie, for example, when people coming from four directions meet at a crossroads. They're all running away from 'attacks' that have occurred just a few miles behind each of them. When they get together and try to figure out what to do next, the person who gets to be in charge is the obviously out-of-his-depth but still barely still-holding-it-together Army private who's the only formal authority figure there. Everyone automatically turns to him for leadership. That's probably what we'd do in real life as well.
In most other Hollywood movies this scene would have been dramatically different. That's actually a pun because it would, indeed, have been a very 'dramatic' scene. There would have been a heated argument and two clear leaders would have emerged with strongly differing opinions on what to do next. There would have been lots of shouting, panicking, and pleas for sanity. A couple of idiots would have snuck off and, as expected, quickly gotten themselves killed. Eventually, they would have split into two groups with our hero feeling terrible about the people who didn't listen to him and will surely die. Think, for example, the library scene from 'The Day After Tomorrow'. Did something like that happen in 'The Happening'? Nopes. And that's what I loved about it.
Oh and there were no obvious "No! Don't go in there!" type moments, either. I really appreciated that.
Atmosphere
Shyamalan did a great job with the atmosphere throughout the film -- starting, literally, from the first scene -- and the overall feeling was of great disquiet tinged with ohmygodwhatthefuck?! Both the acting (everyone was appropriately tharn) and the musical score (particularly the cello solos) really did that justice.
And even though I watched the movie a few days ago, some of those feelings still linger. That tends to happen with Shyamalan's films, doesn't it?
A Different Movie...
Ultimately, though, what I like about Shyamalan's films is how they're different from the usual Hollywood fare. Their locations are different (he insists on filming in Philadelphia, where he lives), their pacing is different, and though the stories themselves are not always ground-breaking they don't follow the usual Hollywood cliches.
...But Not a Really Great One
That said, they do tend to follow the usual Shyamalan cliches. Which is what makes this a less-than-great movie. Still, as Chris Hewitt from TwinCities.com says:
Shyamalan movies demand that you surrender to his way of telling stories. If you're up for that, you should go.
Since I am more than happy to enjoy films the way he makes them and I don't go into his movies (or any other movie, for that matter) with any preconceived notions of what they should be like, I generally have a good time. And that's exactly what happened with 'The Happening'.
So, be warned: If you don't generally like Shyamalan's movies, you won't like this one either. But if you do like his movies, then you should really enjoy this one as well.
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