Title: The Happening
Actors/Director/Anything Worth Mentioning Right Away: This is the most recent film both written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It has Marky Mark and other noteworthy actors in it. This movie was in theaters, so you probably know what it is without me over explaining it to you.
Introduction: This movie was purchased at Wal-Mart for five dollars. I saw it when it first came onto DVD through the public library system. I am probably one of the few people who actually really like this movie.
Location: They travel a lot, and end up in an old lady’s house. Yeah, they had a budget.
Plot: This whole movie centers around something causing people to kill themselves, which is never truly defined. They say it may have something to do with the plants, but you never really know. I like it because, yes, in science some things are just not able to be explained. Also, the way it just kind of starts happening and could be something to really happen one day, it reminds me a lot of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. While the plot has been explored before, it has a unique sense to it because you don’t really know what’s going to happen or who it will affect and all of that. It just seems to all be at the whim of the movie director/writer, which is a nice change of pace for me because it leaves it rather unpredictable. There is no clear answer in this movie of, “They’re zombies, we have to shoot them in the head” or something of that nature. It’s just… unknown terror, which I love.
Acting: The acting really sucks you in. We have a quality cast in this movie, so that helps, but at times when you listen to Mark Wahlberg say something when the camera gets close up on him, you can’t help but think about how cheesy and over the top it’s done, but, more on that later.
Production: This movie was in theaters, has a cast, director and budget, so, yeah, the production quality is great.
Sex/Nudity: There isn’t any, which is good as it’d take away from the plot. People are killing themselves for an unexplained reason—this is no time to be getting naked!
Special Effects: For what little blood there is, it’s done quite well, especially when the one kid gets shot in the back on the head.
Overall Verdict: When this movie was completed, M. Night Shyamalan was quoted as saying something along the lines of “We’ve made a great B Movie”. Having read that before seeing this a second time, I can now see how this movie sometimes can sort of poke fun at itself and other disaster movies. Essentially, I feel like this is a great movie and anyone who thinks otherwise is just taking it too seriously.
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