It's Happening, Shyamalan.

Critics everywhere are bashing M.Night Shyamalan's new film, The Happening. Shyamalan, who started to gain popularity after his successful The Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable, are the target of these so-called critics. He has received some negative reviews ever since his film back in 2004, The Village. Personally, i think he is a talented director. I loved Signs, and i like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and even The Village. People may bashed him for the latter, but i still like it. I like how he built the suspense and i don't have a problem with the ending. As for Lady in The Water, i think it was a decent story with poor execution. So, how about The Happening?

The Happening is a film about how north east America got hit by a mysterious environmental event that causes everyone who is infected to kill themselves. The story itself focuses on a Philadelphia high school teacher, Elliott Moore, his wife, Alma, and his friend's daughter, Jess who tried to run away from this event. The movie has similar vibe of Signs, only this one falls below the quality of its predecessor. The early first scenes were very effective to introduce the plot. It's disturbing, and scary at the same time. Then we were introduced to the main character, Elliot (played by Mark Wahlberg), and we were showed that he is having trouble with his marriage.

This is where it went wrong for Shyamalan. Rather than focus on the background of the internal problem of Elliott and his wife, he added many unnecessary subplots. John Leguizamo's subplot was completely wasted. He went off in the middle of the movie to find his wife, and ends up dead in the next minute. Such a waste of a particularly good actor. Mrs. Jones character that is introduced late in the film is creepy, but she's not really connected to the main story. Also, the marriage problem between Elliott and Alma is not explored enough to develop their characters. The dialogue between them did not help to further explain the plot or resolve their problems. And ultimately, the ending is weak. The film should have ended with Elliott and Alma separated in Mrs. Jones's house. I think it would be effective for the movie to end at the moment when both character has found what has been lost between them. In this case, their marriage.

Shyamalan's script is undercooked. The first half was okay, but he either did not know how to end his story, or he was just lazy to write a meaningful second half. Mark Wahlberg is seriously miscast in this. He is an actor capable of doing a bad ass character like his character in The Departed. But as a high school teacher with little dose of bad ass-ness? I don't think so. Zooey Deschanel, my personal favorite actress, still showed her undeniable charm, but again, the lack of good direction made her performance falls flat and stilted.

All that being said, i still think the movie is entertaining. It is not, by any means, a good movie. But it had it moments and certainly doesn't deserve all the bashing it received. For me, the movie has a subtle way of showing how man will react in the manner of surviving. The story itself diverted into a goofy thriller that still managed to deliver suspense and twitching scares, particularly through the use of landscape as the medium for the suspense. The characters were given time to look within themselves and reflect upon their actions. The pace is also well maintained, and doesn't fall into a typical cliche disaster movie such as The Day After Tomorrow, or Armageddon. James Newton Howard's score was as good as ever. It reminds me of the late Bernard Herrmann's score in a Hitchcock film.

Shyamalan has been performing below par for a couple of years now. What was thought to be the promising director that could be the next Alfred Hitchcock has gone. Let's just hope that he's not gone for good. He got to find his niche, and regain the reputation that he once has. I still have faith in this guy, I know a lot of people still have. Now, it's up to him to repay all that faith.