The Happening
Dir: M. Night Shyamalan
2008
*
Apart from the ironic title, there isn't much I like about The Happening. I do however, like the story, I think it is (was) full of potential. Unfortunately M. Night Shyamalan dropped the ball as the kids say. That said, it still looks good, so I can't really blame his writing or direction, it's just that he is overall responsible. I think to be fair, the real faults with this film lay in the atrocious acting. Mark Wahlberg could be out-acted by a shop window mannequin and my hatred for Zooey Deschanel grows by the day ('Oh but she's quirky and kooky and really pretty' - No, she is average looking and annoying). The script is unbelievably bad and the big pay off is absent. I almost wanted one of Shyamalan's predictable twists but alas by the end I felt I had wasted my time. A great start (the workmen jumping off the building was suitably creepy) but it soon goes dramatically down hill.