“The Happening” fails to add anything to the terror genre.
Past films have had small groups of people racing to survive aliens from outer space or terrorists or some other deadly matter.
Alfred Hitchcock may have done it the best with “The Birds” back in 1963.
In M. Night Shymalan's deadly effort, an airborne virus threatens to wipe out the eastern United States in a bit different way, mass suicide.
The film opens in Central Park in New York City, where life freezes for a few seconds. When motion resumes, people start killing themselves. A woman takes out a knitting needle and plunges it into her neck.
A bunch of construction workers on the ground are yukking it up over a joke when suddenly a worker above comes crashing to the ground.
Bloody with legs and arms that just shouldn't be at such angles, one of the workers on the ground starts to summon help. But then he sees another worker fall. And another, and another. It literally rains human bodies.
This and many other unsettling scenes in this film are done very well.
We get a reprieve from the suicides for awhile as the film switches to science teacher Elliot Moore, played by Mark Wahlberg. Now Elliot tries to be the cool teacher. He understands the students. He jokes, he cajoles them to think.
He asks the students their theories on why bees have suddenly disappeared from the planet. Will this be significant later?
Elliot and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) eventually hear about the chaos and decide to take a train to Philadelphia. It becomes evident this mass suicide is more prevalent in areas with more people.
The pair aren't especially getting along well. She feels guilty. She lied and said she had to work late one night, when actually she was having dessert with another man. No really, it was just dessert.
They make the trip with Julian (John Leguizamo), a math teacher, and his daughter, Jess, played by Ashlyn Sanchez. Julian and Alma clash. After all, in the best disaster films, we must have secondary conflicts that don't really matter anyway. Remember "Towering Inferno?"
Eventually the train comes to a halt because (cue suspense music) the train operators have lost contact with the outside world.
So our heroes, wh0 are pared to Elliot, Alma and young Jess, finally resort to seeking food and shelter while staying away from groups of people. You see, progressively smaller and smaller groups become susceptible to this "suicideitous."
Meanwhile, people keep offing themselves.
Nothing says entertainment like a guy going into the lion's den at the zoo and putting his arm out for the cat to tear off, then stroll with one limb missing until the cat gets the other one.
And tell me, how does a guy start a tractor and lie down in order for it to ride over him, blades a whirling? My tractor shuts off if you get off of the thing with the motor engaged.
And what is causing all of this. A natural phenomenon? Government chemical experiments gone seriously wrong? Revenge of plant life?
Don't expect a definitive answer. Don't expect a big payoff either.
This is one of those films not worth seeing in the theater. It is OK at home while maybe reading e-mail or organizing your pictures.
THE HAPPENING
• Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan
• Rated R for violent and disturbing images
• Runtime: 91 minutes
• 2 stars out of 4
WEEKENDER / Entertainment
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Discussion
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