Sunday, June 15, 2008
A+E, Movies, Reviews
The Happening
Green thriller ‘The Happening’ saves Shyamalan from extinction
Zade Rosenthal/20th Century Fox
Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg in “The Happening”
“THE HAPPENING”
Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Rated R
Wide release“The Happening” is an inconvenient horror movie about man’s inhumanity to plants, and nature’s revenge. It’s (mostly) more subtle than the ’50s flicks where nuclear testing created giant insects, or those “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature” margarine commercials from the ’70s.
It also marks something of a return to form for writer-director-producer M. Night Shyamalan. Not “The Sixth Sense” form, but least he’s back from his “Lady in the Water” nadir and has wisely stopped trying to top himself in the surprise-ending department.
Strange occurrences begin in Central Park, where people stop in their tracks and some kill themselves. What is initially thought to be a terrorist attack involving neurotoxins rapidly spreads all over the Northeast, and a sense of panic builds.
Philadelphia biology teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) flees to the country with his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), best friend Julian (John Leguizamo) and Julian’s 8-year-old daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). Julian goes off to look for his wife, leaving Jess with the childless Elliot and Alma. Lost in rural Pennsylvania, they get a ride with a nursery owner (Frank Collison) who has some strange theories about how plants might be responsible for what’s happening.
We’re told that an “event” like this will crest, then rapidly subside, so our central characters only have to survive until that happens. But they have no way of knowing when it will be.
For more than half its economical length, “The Happening” is a highly effective creepfest. It may strain at times to be quirky and funny, but a lot of it works. Even if it’s not perfect, the movie never becomes a toxic waste of time. 2.5 STARS—Steve Warren