The Happening

Just saw M. Night Shyamalan's new movie The Happening with my lady this afternoon.

All I can say is wow, very interesting premise and explanation as the movie progressed.


I just found it really interesting because I got into similar topics of discussion in college before.

I thought it was a pretty good movie, and I like Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg who I both think did a good job.

Anyone else see it yet?

I definitely won't be seeing it after I heard what was causing everything. Total hogwash.

Foxbatkllr said:

I definitely won't be seeing it after I heard what was causing everything. Total hogwash.

Click to expand...

see thats was wrong with people today they dont know a good movie and also you are just judging it on what causes it not the movie its self

personally i thought is was an awesome movie very entertaining

Well,

the explanation has a scientific basis. so it's not totally insane, just hard for people to believe. on a species level it doesn't matter.

the same reason a small scorpion can kill a human....


size matters not


DUH

just saw it....my wife loved it

I thought it was OK

i heard from one of my friends it was terrible. I'll prolly watch it eventually, but for those heading to the theatre, see "hulk" first. Definitely way better than the last one. If you're a fan of Edward Norton, do not miss it.

Just saw the movie, thought I would comment just in case anyone is still looking to see this.


I thought the movie was terrible. It was some of the worst acting I've seen, I expected much better from Mark Wahlberg. The dialog always seemed forced and awkward, as if they were just waiting for their cue, then spewing their lines.

The plot tried to give some background and depth to the characters, but it told us about their background instead of showing us, which is ok if done right, but this again seemed forced. The cinematography and direction of photography was not that great either.

I actually liked the plot and the twist, but I feel like the movie was ruined with bad acting and awkward dialog.

SPOILER






It was the clouds, not the trees. Everyone in my theater seemed to miss that.

agree with the previous post for the most part.

Director: "OK everyone in the movie; give me 'wide eyed'. OK, now give me 'puzzled'. Now repeat that for 2 hours, I'm off to the pub"

total pap.

re spoiler... wha!? i don't get it.

A lot of people rag on M Night's movies... in my (perhaps not so humble) opinion I think they are the people who don't understand where he's coming from. I thought Signs was one of the most thought-provoking and imaginative movies I've ever seen, and I watch it rather often. A lot of people tell me they hate that movie and I simply cannot understand why they would say that. So what if there is stuff that doesn't make sense in the real world? It's a MOVIE, not a REALLY. His stuff works on symbolic levels, not real-life levels. I suppose if people absolutely need their movies to be "realistic" then they can never let themselves enjoy such a movie. To me, that's sad. I will see The Happening no matter what people say about it. I heard bad things about all his movies, yet I have very much enjoyed all his movies that I have seen. Go figure.

Hey, I understand "Signs" and thought it was a very good movie. I saw "the Happening" over the weekend and it wasn't happening IMO. boy was i disappointed. the air making people kill themselves?? come on man, what a let down. do yourself a favor and save your money.

I think the message in this movie was our enviroment (global warming)

I give it two thumbs down. was a awful movie

Gypsyboy said:

A lot of people rag on M Night's movies... in my (perhaps not so humble) opinion I think they are the people who don't understand where he's coming from. I thought Signs was one of the most thought-provoking and imaginative movies I've ever seen, and I watch it rather often. A lot of people tell me they hate that movie and I simply cannot understand why they would say that. So what if there is stuff that doesn't make sense in the real world? It's a MOVIE, not a REALLY. His stuff works on symbolic levels, not real-life levels. I suppose if people absolutely need their movies to be "realistic" then they can never let themselves enjoy such a movie. To me, that's sad. I will see The Happening no matter what people say about it. I heard bad things about all his movies, yet I have very much enjoyed all his movies that I have seen. Go figure.

Click to expand...

thank you.

his movies i agree are meant to be thought provoking over realistic.


i thought people that were disappointed by the dystopian allegory ending of the village would have learned by now to rent his movies over seeing them in the theater.

I saw it and was really let down... I'd save my money and rent it on DVD.

(SPOILERS POSSIBLY)

I walked out of the theater and had to argue with myself over why it was NOT a bad film.

A film should not have you do that.

Was it entertaining? Yeah, a little bit. The deaths were OK but some laughable (tiger cage at the zoo, the college girl "I hear wind from outside"...) But the acting was pretty awful, and M. Night Shyamalan seems to be spiraling downward as a director. His movies don't even twist anymore, which is what he was known for. He's become more and more literal as his career has progressed.

Sixth Sense... Brucie is dead. I was shocked when I saw that, and couldn't predict it.
Unbreakable... Brucie is invincible, but he realizes the way that was proven was by his new friend committing unthinkable atrocities.
The Village... The commune actually exists in modern times, but the people are living a chosen life of isolation, as they are sick of life in their country (america?)
Signs... Alien invasion. Water kills them. All predicted by his wife. This is where M. Night starts spiraling.
The Lady in the Water... Nothing is twisted. Everything is literal. Everything plays out exactly as he tells the viewer, even down to the gigantic hawk at the end. It was somewhat entertaining, but the viewer shouldn't feel brow-beated by the telling of the story.

And now...

The Happening. He can't even come up with a reason for it to be literal, it just is. There are no explanations of the occurrence, just that it's "a freak act of nature which defies explanation".

I dunno, I was let down by this film, quite heavily. It was nice that M. Night grew some stones and went for the R-rating, but he could have done so much more with it. It seems he is treating the audience like children, more and more, as his career goes forward. He's having to out-and-out explain things, without allowing the viewer to fill in the pieces.

Don't waste your money on The Happening, is my verdict. Any movie which has you question whether or not you were entertained or whether or not it was good at the end of it all is not a good movie. Save your money for "Wall-E" or "The Hulk".

Hell, Speed Racer was more entertaining than this.

... also, if it seems I am kinda opinionated, I have studied film throughout college. it's what I want to go into as a career. This film of M. Night's actually offended that side of me.

(/SPOILERS)

Also, we all know that if Marky Mark had had his Funky Bunch with him, they could have saved the day.

xero said:

Don't waste your money on The Happening, is my verdict. Any movie which has you question whether or not you were entertained or whether or not it was good at the end of it all is not a good movie. Save your money for "Wall-E" or "The Hulk".

Click to expand...

Or... "Hellboy 2"... or "The Dark Knight"... or "Hancock"... "X Files: I want to Believe"... "The Mummy 3"... "Swing Vote"... "Tropic Thunder"... "The Clone Wars"... "Death Race"... "Bangkok Dangerous"...

These're basically the "summer" movies I am looking forward to. This leads up to September 5th...and they all will probably be better than The Happening.

SPOILER



The twist was that it was the clouds (or at least something in the air) and not the trees. Although this may be only my interpretation.

The movie begins and ends with shots of the clouds. It starts with clouds in the beginning during the credits, then pans down to New York and shows the happening. It ends with showing the happening in France, then pans up to the clouds (it traveled with the clouds). The "happening" only occurred when the wind was blowing. They first thought the plants were reacting to big groups of people, but smaller and smaller groups were being "targeted", eventually leading to just the one old lady being taken out. Yet Marks bunch were unaffected when they went outside that last time (the clouds already having passed over?) This also explains why it didn't happen all over the world or country, until a little after the first happening (again, the happening traveling in the clouds)


So in my opinion: great concept, bad execution.

Pretty much the worst movie I've ever seen. Did anyone else see the Boom Mic come in to frame above the actors on the top of the frame? I wouldn't even recommend downloading this movie. I respect everyone's opinion, so please don't get me wrong.

SPOILERS

Hmmm...
Didn't anyone find it at all interesting that this movie had so many people die (violently some of the time).... yet nobody was every "killed"!?

If the twist is that the clouds did it... then I COMPLETELY missed that point! I just thought there wasn't really a twist (like Lady in the Water). I thought it was pretty specific, by the end, that it WAS the plants.... they specified it. "Trees and Plants can't move to get away from threats.... so they react in their own chemical way to eliminate a threat to them".

The only reason it looks as though the wind (or clouds) are responsible, is because the film maker needed a way to visual the plants "mobilizing" against the threat. The wind made it look like there was motion in the grass and trees.

askywalker98 said:

Pretty much the worst movie I've ever seen. Did anyone else see the Boom Mic come in to frame above the actors on the top of the frame? I wouldn't even recommend downloading this movie. I respect everyone's opinion, so please don't get me wrong.

Click to expand...

oh come on lol. not even worth the bandwidth? hmm... perhaps not. I'm downloading the complete xfiles series in preparation for the movie.

SPOILER

^^Don't people get tired of seeing the word SPOILER all the time?



It might not have been the clouds, that was just my take on it. To me the movie makes a whole lot more sense with that twist. (Why they weren't affected at the end, why the old lady was effected when she was the only one, why the clouds were prominently shown at the beginning and end, etc)