WARNING: THIS IS A SPOILER REVIEW! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS STOP READING NOW!
M. Night Shyamalan is a great story teller / director. He gets great performances from great actors. I timed myself to see how long into the film it would take me to figure it out. Right around the thirty minute mark I figured it out. At first I was pissed off. Then having thought about it for some time now I have a few more pissed off thoughts and some constructive criticism.
I think after I hear M. Night's reason for telling this story it will either make me more disappointed in the film or appreciate it even more. Now for the spoiler. What "Happens" is that plants start fighting back. They release toxins in the air that make people commit suicide. This only happens in the north east. There are references to global warming early on in the film. This was a dead giveaway as to where the film was going. Once that was established I felt like I was watching a fictional version of an Inconvenient Truth, wait, that was fiction as well.
M. Night Shyamalan, the director that shocked the shit out of us with The Sixth Sense has gone the way of the greenie weenies. He still tells a good story, great cinematography and genius for using plants. He spent his money on the suicide scenes. Which by the way are done incredibly well. They cut away at just the right times and linger just long enough in some instances. Plants and wind are what the main characters are running from. Genius.
M. Night set his own bar with The Sixth Sense. He doesn't want to be known as the director that has to have the twist ending in every film but we as an audience are expecting him to deliver something that we aren't expecting.
Would I see The Happening again? I am tonight with a friend who hasnt seen it. Just so we can talk about it. I went and saw it by myself last Sunday night and really wanted to talk about it after words. I guess since I will see it twice and will have blogged about it...There's no such thing as bad press.
