I'll start by saying "I like this film." I didn't love it, but it wasn't a complete bomb for me. I agree with what Peter said about Night needing to step back and let others present ideas for the creative process. Mark and Zooey (not a big fan of hers) are respectable actors in their own right. Therefor, the impression I got was they were very over-directed. It was also hard to peg why exactly John Leguizamo (sp?) was even in the film beyond star power. His character has no arc and he does not steal the scenes he's in. It almost felt as though Night looked at the treatment and thought; "I need another character for the audience to get emotionally attached to that I can kill."

All this being said, I enjoyed the experience. Certain moments held me in suspense, other's disturbed me at my core. The entire Jeep sequence was one of the best in the film, from the lawn care workers to Leguizamo's death. The first 10 minutes are a great setup for the rest of the film. I'm a little surprised after Cloverfield took so much heat for "profiting from the tragedy of 9/11" that no one has commented on the construction workers throwing themselves off of a building in downtown New York, in the same way.

As I said before, not Night's best work, but for me, a good movie as a whole. Over-directed but spooky. Let the flaming begin.

This movie was planned almost from the start to be a B movie. I'm sure M. Night started off with high expectations for his new screenplay. It sounds good at first, with a biological agent causing people to end their own lives. However, as he developed the story and decided to use vegetation as the supplier of said biological agent, he began to realize just how campy this movie was going to be. In fact it was becoming Hitchcock's "Birds" only this time it was vegetation laying the beat down on humanity, not the pigeon's. Mark Wahlberg is a terrific actor, and there is no way he would act this poorly in a movie unless it was meant to be done on purpose. One thing M. Night does is craft visually well done movies, he makes wise choices, however in this movie he makes some ridiculous choices, like the slow motion look back preformed by John Leguizamo. There is nothing about that shot that isn't funny or cheesy. All in all, I think M. Night was intentionally funny and created a well done purposeful B movie.

Peter, after reading your review I actually want to see it. That just sounds hillarious.

That's it - I can't apologize for this guy anymore. He has truly lost whatever gift(s) he had and if a movie like THE HAPPENING can get made, I feel sorry for all the talented, humble and hungry screenwriters and directors out there who aren't living solely off a brand name.

The film itself is godawful. All the good reviews for it seem more apologetic and hopeful than positive. And that's a dangerous sign (no pun intended). This is one of those movies where the acting is so bad that initially you think that's intentional and that everything will be explained in the end. NOTHING is explained in the end. The acting is cringeworthy, the dialogues lack any weight as do the characters. Shyamalan is unable to create a world or world event which is expansive or believeable. THE HAPPENING seems like his cheapest mainstream effort, and I can see why.

I'm praying that he get's taken off of THE LAST AIRBENDER as AVATAR is one of my favorite cartoons and a pretentious hack (yes, that's what he's become!) can only ruin it.

It's so sad to see someone fall from grace like this. But facts are facts. And I hope the industry is fickle enough this time to make him see that he can't just keep making crappy films like this.

ROHIT IYER

Can we delete stupid posts from idiots like reslipia?

I want to see this regardless of what people are saying. It almost seems to be getting the same reaction The Village did. And I really liked The Village.

sucked

ugh. no taste.

joshua--

I know exactly which shot you were talking about, and you're right: it was campy and cheesy, but it looked far from intentional.

If he really did want to make a "B-movie", then he should have gone all out like Tarantino or Rodriguez; heck he could've even had plant monsters and what not - that I don't mind.

I just don't think that (if the cheesiness is intentional) you can straddle in-between both seriousness and cheesiness and try to get the best of both worlds.

He's failed one way or the other.

Leaves a bad taste in mouth , Cap Awesome...
Trust me on this one.
$

Steve

The Happening has my vote for one of the worst movies of 2008. I mean just look at it! Everything in it has potential. The intriguing storyline, the brilliant cast and a promising idea
But M Night Shaymalan really screwed himself over this time. The plot is definitely better then Lady in the Water (shudder) but Shaymalan doesn't do a good job at putting the story in full retrospect. The thrills are lacking, the acting terrible and the climax is extremely anti-climatic, and i'm pretty sure we've seen something similar to this outbreak before (28 Weeks Later)
First we have the good (The Sixth Sense, Signs) the bad (Unbreakable) and the plain ugly (The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening) M Night Shaymalan, you have officialy lost your directing credentials

Roger Ebert found it touching, I think ever since he became ill he lost his taste in movies.

Yes, they said the same about Rocky Horror, but that movie was in on the joke and it was suppose to be strange. This movie is suppose to be a serious.

It was horrible.. like one of the worst movies I've ever scene... like even in bad movies, I can pick a few scenes that I could relate to.. but this one??? not a single one!!! the whole story is pointless (*SPOILER* and being explained through the first few dialogs of mark wahlberg in the school) and random

I couldn't stop from yawning throughout the whole movie... and I kept looking at my friend the whole time like WTF and how boring a movie can be (I pretty much looked at my watch more than 20 times)

and the whole violence/brutal deaths.. what was the point of that??? oh.. btw, it's said the budget is $65 million!!! Where the fuck did that go????!!!

Please save yourself the 2 hours of your life (fuck the money) that you gonna spend watching this garbage
dude.. it's not even worth bootlegging!!!


PS. on a totally unrelated note... a few days ago there was a discussion for Captain America casting... Marky Mark is a really really good option

When it comes to M. Night Shyamalan, one often expects his trademark twist. Well, there's a twist in this film alright, and that is, you expect the ending... no, the whole movie to be good. But no! Instead, it sucks!

"What a tweest!"

I saw the movie yesterday and was shocked... at how bad it was. You can tell it was a bad film because the part that scared me the most was when I was startled by the first gunshot (when the cop kills himself), and like I said I was startled not scared, but thats the closest I got to being scared the entire movie. The rest of the movie was funny and not because it was supposed to be...how can a tree be scary??? They literally show a tree and play scary music and try and get people scared. The acting was horrible. I like Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel is gorgeous, but they both gave horrible performances...not bad, horrible, and I know it's not their fault. Night lost me with this one and with Lady in the water... and now he's going to do Avatar??? I don't really know what that is but all I heard was that it was a cartoon based on Anime... come on Night...Anime???????

His cameo was when they were on the train: he was the passenger sitting next to Deschanel. I really liked the film, by the way -- though it irritates me that they keep calling his films thrillers when, really, they're good old fashioned science fiction stories. And I don't mean Hollywood 'sci-fi' but 1960-70s 's.f.' (as they used to call it) -- the kind that H.G. Wells and John Wyndham used to write. Good stuff.

Ebert means nothing to me, as far as movie taste. He bashes half the comedies I love.

The Happening was so not happening.

Good actors, the seed of a good idea for a scifi horror flick, and a talented director.

But the script and the choices made were God-awful and made the audience cringe in their many moments of lazy filmmaking.

You know how M. Night was proclaimed to be the next Spielberg; well he is in this regard - no checks and balances. I feel M. Night is in the honored position were anything he writes he can get a studio to produce. Producers and other industry people would have questioned this story if M. wasn't such a name. As a screenwriter not every one of my screenplays is ready for the screen; The Happening probably should have been put aside as an interesting idea that needs to be reworked at a later date.

M. Night keeps making big mistakes with major plot points that a first year film student would get kill for. His dependence on covering gaps in logic by use of TV news or minor character monologs has got to stop. Note: the news story about Happenings ending as quickly as they started and the TV graphic showing something like 9 am! In Signs, the TV story about the aliens not going around water. In The Village, M. Night as a security chief states the past airplane ban! I'm not going to list all of them in Lady from the Sewer. He really writes this stuff like his audience is from the fifties. He doesn’t recognize the history of film and storytelling that has developed our tastes and level of bullshit.

One of the worst movies I have ever seen, Lady in the Water was better, and so was Indiana Jones 4....

One of the first movies I was very tempted of walking out of the theater, and I've seen some dumb shit at the theaters. Still to this day, haven't walked out on a movie yet.

I guess the main reason I went to see the movie was Mark Wahlberg, and I kind of like the stories from M Nights movies, but this just made me think he'll never get to direct another movie ever again, unless its staring just himself in his basement or something.

I have a completely different take on the movie. I viewed this movie as a response to the critics who constantly criticize his work. It was too ridiculous to be serious. I think we can all agree that Wahlberg, Deschanel, and Leguizamo have all contributed better performances in the past. I think that the director was satirizing his own work.

TErrible! Shymalan should not be allowed to make movies anymore

A 68 million dollar budget to satirise your own work?

How does that exactly help his flailing reputation, Sombrero?

I went and saw it AFTER The Hulk...and i am so glad. (The Hulk was good just so everyone knows) I did not expect much out of this movie, and while i did not much like the stories of The Village or Lady in the Water i still thought that M. Night was a talented director. But after this i just dont know what he was thinking. Who read this script and thought it was a good idea....

It was not good. If "the planet" finaly did just decide to be done with us (which is ridiculous) i would at least hope that more of the shots were in focus.....

I found myself describing this movie to a friend by saying, “M. Night totally nuked the fridge”…….

I saw Hulk on Thursday and The Happening last night. Both good and I am glad I saw both. I liked The Happening, it kept me on the edge of my seat and as usual from M. Knight the visuals were really good. But I think the movie was ruined by the acting. I couldn't take Mark's character seriously. I guess it was intentional but it didn't work for me. I think the silly dialogue worked for the most part.

I liked it but didn't love it.

Just watched it. And I liked it. But I'm not objective. I mean, I'm charmed by Shyamalan, and I think I'll like all his movies, even if he'll direct a telephone book. lol

the happening makes the wicker man remake seem like a masterpiece. go see it and laugh. best comedy of the year.

No human talks like they do in Juno either, but you guys still loved it :)
Anyways, before being bashed: I haven't seen The Happening yet, but I do intend to go next week. I liked The Village.

if peter scierietta wrote good reviews about this movie, you guys would all be agreeing with him and saying it was a good movie. but since he has a personal vendetta against any of shamalyn's movies, you guys go and bash the movie and walk into the theatre with negative vibes. if sciretta wrote a great movie review about meet the spartans, you guys would be all over his nuts, saying it was the best comedy of the year.

i havnt seen the happening yet, but watching the previews, i didnt think "this looks horrible." you guys r just writing bad reviews on the movie because peter sciretta, the best fucking movie critic on the fucking planet, decided to bash it. fucking suck ups

In my theater when Zooey Deschanel reaches to grab the little girl's hand and Leguizamo gets angry and yells "don't you grab my daughter's hand unless you mean it!" the whole theater burst into laughter. When Mark Wahlberg hears the gunshots in the field and says "oh no! i think they're killing themselves" Then another person says "Are they killing themselves?" and another person says "Everybody's killing themselves." Or when Beans from Even Stevens gets shot in the chest and the other little boy gets shot in the head as Wahlberg yells in slow motion, "JERRYYYYY!" Thats too silly to be real

The happening is the worst film i have ever seen. Soooooooooooooooooo baaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddddd

I truly hope the horrific acting was intentional. Everyone in my theater ended up treating it like a comedy, easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Script: Sentences are too full, too perfect for a normal person to converse.

Acting: Using the Script, makes the delivery of lines unnatural. Don't get me wrong, I think Wahlberg is good...but the lines he had to speak...yikes

Visual: Graphic as is disturbing...that was the only thing attractive of the film

Overall: I should've watched Hulk instead...shucks

I thought it was a good movie. There are always a few who will not find the stuff entertaining. The Village had similar reaction but eventually did well.

WORST MOVIE EVER

with ANY movie that is made,your going to have people who like it,and those who don't..no matter what it's about or whose in it.you can't please everyone...so with that said, i think the beginning of the movie was good,but the other half did drag a bit so i'm mixed on my feelings about it.since the 6th scence iv'e been a fan of his and even after seeing some bad ones i'll STILL be excited to see his next film. i guess first impressions do last the longest.one thing i gota give him,he tries to make ORIGINAL movies and not remakes or book to movie creations altho..i am curious how he would direct someone elses idea.hmmm

People have unintelligent reasons to hate this movie: People talk weird, there is no villain, there is no twist. I will say that I had low, low expectations for this movie since reading an interview done by the director on The Happening website, in which he basically gave away what's causing the event, so I knew that walking in.

His execution of the movie was well done. The score was good, the actors weren't terrible, and the deaths were excellent. I counted maybe 20 on screen deaths, plus a barrage of deaths that you could hear and witness after the deed is done.

Was it his best? No. Is it worth killing 90 minutes for? Maybe. It depends on if you're the type of person who needs everything spelled out for you, or if you like to think about movies after the initial viewing.

If you want to see a movie just to see a movie, than go see this. If you're a fan of Shamalamadingdong, I think you'll enjoy this. The guy is a genius when it comes to directing, it's just his writing could use some work. The funny scenes were funny, the creepy scenes were creepy, and the movie was enjoyable on a few levels.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:



The end, for not having a "twist," was great. I walked away very, very pleased. Some scenes, including people running away from the wind, were a little cheesy. The overall message of people killing the planet, the planet not standing for it, and forcing people to kill each other before they rid The Earth entirely, is a good concept.

6/10

Manny: I actually like Shyamalan’s film. Unbreakable is one of my favorites. And truth be told, I actually was one of the only people that liked his last movie, LAdy in the Water. But bottom line: The Happening is bad... very bad.

I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YOU HAVE TO DO MORE THEN LOOK AT IT. THINK ABOUT IT???????????? WE ALWAYS HERE FROM OLD PEOPLE HOW THE WORLD IS COMING TO A END HOW ABOUT THE WORLD KEEPS GOING AND KICK US OUT JUST THINK THEY KILLED THERE SELF THEY FELT NO PAIN JUST THINK OF WAKING UP TO PEOPLE DOING THIS AND THERE IS NO WERE TO GO. IT IS JUST THE END AND WE DO IT TO OUR SELF

I don't want to see it due to the fact that the lines "There appears to be an event happening" and "We just have to be alive when it's over" were not only written, filmed, and in the final product... but they're in the trailer.

When two lines that bad are some of your best selling points, I'm not sure I want to see what else is in store.

worst.movie.ever.period. if you disagree, you know nothing about movies. i was a fan of m. night's other films. however, this one was just awful. there wasn't any twist! there wasn't any plot! it shouldn't have been called the happening because NOTHING HAPPENED! absolutely terrible

I thought it was a really good movie It was somthing new It was his best movie since signs. I love this movie.

i want so very badly, for m night not to get into the same place as george lucas - where he refuses to accept a little help where writing is concerned. night is still a very good filmmaker, and this film was fun for me. i was scared at times, and laughed as well.

one thing i don't agree with, is the distress over the 'B' acting element. it is a twilight zone-like device, and m night seems to be a fan of it. and if you look back at some of our legendary filmmakers, like hitchcock for example, many of his characters deliveries are very cheesy/B, but they work. m night just needs to find out how to make it work in his films. it worked perfectly in 'signs'. sam raimi also pulls it off very well.

there is something in this film that is keeping me from giving it a B+, but i just canb't put my finger on it. until i do, i gotta give it a B-.

I didn't really like the movie, but one thing bugged more than anything else:

(MINOR SPOILER)

How could Mark Wahlberg see the little girl off to school at the end of the movie when he's a teacher and should already be at school himself?

I actually liked it more than The Incredible Hulk and Indy 4, but that's not saying too much.

There were three or four times that I actually laughed out loud and thought were pretty amazing.... (SPOILERish) when Marky Mark talks to the plant, when he makes up the story about almost buying a superfluous bottle of cough syrup, and near the end when he is staying in the nutty old woman's house and she says she can hear them talking about her and planning on killing her and he tries to explain that they aren't.

Minus the first scene in Central Park, which sounded like how you're taught to open a play in college in the 1970s, I didn't mind the dialogue or think it was that bad (with the exception being the line about taking the daughter's hand). I actually thought that some of the highlights of the film came from dialogue (see above, as well as Leguizamo posing the math riddles in the Jeep).

Ultimately, I thought it was an unsatisfying movie that denied the audience of "money shot" kills and something of an explanation or real ending, but that's not the worst thing. I will say that unlike The Hulk I wasn't checking my watch and feeling like it was incredibly tedious and tired. There were a few good and interesting things about it.

I hated it. There was no twist and in the first 5 minutes I guessed it was the tree's.

Bruce Campbell in the lead role and they might have had something. :)

There is a 5 second scene midway through that hints at a decent movie hidden among all the crap. They show some Nebraska survivalists arming themselves to the teeth in a garage. The story possibilities hinted at from that paranoia would have been both disturbing and interesting, but sadly Shyamalan's story never goes there. The story could have used the botanical nature as a catalyst and then focused on this militant paranoia and the dark side of human nature (especially with regard to political extremes). One town torn apart by political paranoia is a movie I would like to see. There was potential.

68 million to film a group of actors running around in fields. Really, MNS?? This would play if it was done by film students without a budget, but as a film directed and financed by people that should have a clue (the money people are more guilty than MNS), this was truly a terrible film. I just don't think anyone involved had anything to work with in this mistake of a movie.

Sadly, even James Newton Howard, who usually does superior work for Shyamalan, drops an uninteresting and uninspired effort on the score. You can hate on The Village or Lady in the Water, but those scores are some of the best work out there.

I'm still more disturbed by Spielberg's effort on IJ4. Maybe the plants ARE up to something.

It was very excellent.

Lmao, Sombrero.

Next time put up some comedic spoiler alerts. Jk!

I feel bad, but I laughed when the young kids were shot.