|

SYNOPSIS:
"Science will come up with some reason to
put in the books, but in the end it'll be just a theory. We
will fail to acknowledge that there are forces at work
beyond our understanding."
-- from THE HAPPENING
From director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs)
comes a lightning-paced, heart-pounding paranoid thriller
about a family on the run from an inexplicable and
unstoppable event that threatens not only humankind . . .
but the most basic human instinct of them all: survival.
REVIEW: After the movie, at first I was speechless,
then all I could repeat to myself over and over and over
again was how bad I felt for Shyamalan. It wasn’t too long
ago that he was on top of the world after mesmerizing it
with his masterpieces, Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs.
His directing skills, story telling abilities, and overall
cinematic vision were a breath of fresh air for moviegoers.
Sixth Sense holds my personal record for seeing a movie in
the theaters at 4. This is not by choice but by chance
because every time I went to the movies with a different
friend during that period of time, they each wanted to see
Sixth Sense. Can I tell you that even on the 4th viewing,
knowing exactly what was going to happen, I was still
jumping in my seat during the scary moments. That is
Shyamalan skill. In Signs, one of my personal favorites of
all time, the way each little detail is wrapped up in
smooth, meaningful closure is Shyamalan skill. It is one of
the best movie endings I have ever seen. Underrated
Unbreakable was a fantastic telling of a modern superhero
story in Shyamalan style. It was excellent. But then things
started to get a little off. In The Village and Lady in the
Water, the magic, mystery, and nail-biting cinematography
are all still there but the stories were not as sharp. This
was even more evident with their humble performance at the
box office. Being the Shyamalan fan that I am, I was
completely rooting for him to make a dramatic comeback with
this production. The previews were enticing and it was his
first rated R picture so I had high hopes. Maybe that’s why
I was so disappointed. The movie was not exactly bad, but it
was not what I was hoping for. But heck, Shyamalan said it
himself. "I wanted it to be a fantastic fun B movie,"
Shyamalan told Reuters in a recent interview. "The No. 1
thing is I want people to say: 'That was a really fun B
movie.'" Are you kidding me? After what he has established
for himself he’s shooting for a B movie? I don’t get it.
Come on M., you know you can do better than that.
So let’s see, where do we begin? The character interaction
was cheesy and lame, and each character’s development was
insufficient. M. Night usually does a great job with getting
the viewer attached to the characters but not in this one.
The cast initially sounded pretty decent but the
performances were average at best. They seemed to be
reciting lines and forcing their emotions . . . they were
just not very convincing at all. Mark Wahlberg was not very
believable in the lead role of Elliot Moore, a science
teacher. Mark Wahlberg a science teacher? Huh? Zooey
Deschanel played Alma Moore, Elliot’s wife, and she just did
not bring her “A” game. The better performance of the three
bigger names in the cast was delivered by John Leguizamo as
Julian, a math teacher and Elliot’s friend and co-worker,
and yet he had the smallest role of the three. The script
was weak and unmoving and the storyline was too simple. As
always, the cinematography was one of the better aspects of
this film but compared to other Shyamalan works it does not
match his standards. Granted, a bulk of the movie is filmed
in a daytime outdoor setting so that doesn’t help. There are
hints of Shyamalan magic throughout this movie, but overall
it just does not feel like a Shyamalan product. What is
prevalent is the pro-environment message. It almost seems
like an Al Gore sponsored motion picture. If a B movie is
what M. Night wanted, then yeah, that’s what he got and it’s
pretty good. But scoring it against the reputation of
Shyamalan movies, it falls short. I am willing to let this
one slide if he brings a real blockbuster next time.
Movie
Review By Cine Marcos
cinemarcos@smartcine.com
MORE MOVIE REVIEWS
>>>
People Review
The Happening
Astro |
50 |
I think Shymalan aimed
for a bigger message other than the
evironmental one which was incredibly
evident. The one I spotted during this
film was hidden within each character.
The diolouge was idiotic, let's put it
at that. The women with the gas masks
were an eyesore. The solider trying to
lead the people was unlike the typical
movie solider, brave and knowledgable,
he was dumb and nervous, searching for
information that someone would tell him
to do. My point is that M. NIght was
targeting the conservative party. He was
making fun of the old and paronoid, the
soliders, the rednecks (the ones that
shot the children and the
ones that were loading up in their
garage).
He was also making fun of the liberals.
The stereotypical know it alls, M. Night
put them in a situation of distress. M.
Night was just showing the stereotypes
of all people. However, this was still a
bad movie because I don't think that
this point was evident. The film wasn't
advertised as a joke, a mesaage,
a parody. Nothing. It was supposed to be
a thriller and it wasn't.
It was simply a joke. A joke of a movie
and a joke towards the people. |
Submit Your Movie Review
|
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 1hr 29mins
Staring: Mark Wahlberg
Zooey Deschanel
John Leguizamo
Betty Buckley
Producer: M. Night Shyamalan
Sam Mercer
Barry Mendel
Distributor: 20TH CENTURY FOX
Rating: R
Release Date: June 13, 2008
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
VIEW TRAILER
| |
Home |
DVD |
Advertising
|
Press Kits
submissions |
Publishing
All movie titles, pictures, etc... are
registered trademarks and/or copyrights of their respective
holders
Copyright ©2007
The Entertainment Report Group
|