Rating of
2/4
Had Potential to be Great
Franz Patrick - wrote on 08/31/08
People have extremely high expectations from M. Night Shyamalan’s films and I wish they would just give him a break. Sure, “The Village” was not as good as “The Sixth Sense,” “Unbreakable” and “Signs,” but it’s not completely horrible. “Lady in the Water” was a complete mess and I agree with the majority. But I happen to think that “The Happening” isn’t that bad. When things get scary, they really do get intense; that’s when I really get to see where (or from whom) Shayamalan gets his style of direction. Several examples of chilling scenes include people falling from the sky and the strict old lady near the climax of the picture. I must say that I’m really disappointed with the acting here. Even Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel couldn’t save this by their acting alone. They either overact or underact during the key moments and it was so frustrating because I wanted to see more of their reactions so that I would truly get to know the characters they were playing. As for the ending, it was too abrupt and needed a more in-depth explanation. Otherwise, this film really did have the potential to be truly great. If Shayamalan had taken more time to edit, rewrite and reshoot some scenes, this would have been a terrifying moviegoing experience (in a good way instead of otherwise).
