Review- The Happening
The Happening would always be something of a challenge for M. Night Shyamalan. Had he made this film immediately after The Sixth Sense everything would have been different. Post The Sixth Sense, every film of Shyamalan has revealed the chinks in the director’s armor. From being someone who couldn’t make any mistakes and was touted to be the next Spielberg, Shyamalan’s successive films have each shown with increasing efficiency how Shyamalan could goof it up. There was hardly any buzz about The Happening while it was being made and even the pre-release publicity was low-key. Perhaps the director wanted to quietly return to the party he prematurely took off from.
The Happening doesn’t highlight the sense of urgency or chaos that would usually accompany an event that forces people to flee their homes. Nor does it indulge in a post-apocalyptic scenario as seen in films like I Am Legend. The Happening does manage to build up the tension with some very good moments of sheer shock but that is just as far as M. Night Shyamalan ventures. This film isn’t anything more than an effort to return to the territory that he is famous for. While it’s could be understandable that Shyamalan chooses to avoid large scale frenzy of The War of the Worlds and makes the events of The Happening more internal, the mediocre acting leaves an incomplete feeling. The director isn’t really known for managing to extract ‘performances’ from his actors and The Happening doesn’t change that claim.
Once the characters are in the open, running away from whatever is causing the destruction, the sense of despondency is hardly visible. Elliot and Alma behave as if they are running late for a dinner more than anything else. Shyamalan sets the drama in the countryside so even if, according to him, he is portraying a despondency, it really falls flat. One is used to the visceral images of 28 Days Later so to expect people to really feel forlorn as they iron out domestic issues while walking through the serene landscape isn’t really happening! Why would a director who is making a film about doomsday avoid showing the rioting and the chaos? The film thankfully is well paced and allows time for a buildup but to what end?
One can’t help but feel let down by the time the film reaches its conclusion. The last scene is supposed to send out conflicting signals of hope and doom at the same time but looks sardonically funny to say the least. We really don’t get to know the whys of the whos that caused the whats in the film but that could be because Shyamalan might have tried to peter out of the damed-if-I-do-and-damed-if-I-don’t twist in the end. Sadly if he had decided to use a more intellectual approach for The Happening he should have given the actors more to do than mouth mostly inane lines. Mark Wahlberg comes across as the universal elder brother leading every one to safety as he solves all the problems at hand using a quick scientific approach. Zooey Deschanel as Alma sleepwalks through her character like a wide-eyed mare! The film also features John Leguizamo who happens to be the pick of the actors but hardly has a role. The Happening has some truly good moments and the best thing you could do is to figure them out. For even if you lose track of what’s happening, it doesn’t matter because even at the end no one knows what really happened!
