M. Night Shyamalan’s films follow one of two patterns….One is the punchline film which is like a well-told joke….Yes, it’s enjoyable but once you now the punchline you have no reason to see it again….THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE, and THE VILLAGE fall into this category….The other is the dippy fairy tale-type allegory with heavy meaning that is not at all subtle and usually announced every five minutes….SIGNS, THE LADY IN THE WATER, and his latest film which I have just seen THE HAPPENING fall into that category.
Shyamalan’s a guy basically that is treated like Alfred Hitchcock when his films are more like an intellectual Roger Corman….That is he is not a great artist IMO but rather a practitioner of the age old art of the b-movie albeit with more conversation and maybe somewhat less sex and violence….Expectations that he will one day produce a timeless masterpiece revered by all are I think unrealistic.
That is not to say I dislike all he does although I found SIGNS hokey and dull, SIXTH SENSE and THE VILLAGE nothing but set-ups for their twist endings, and THE LADY IN THE WATER unwatchable nonsensical garbage….However, I know I’m in the minority but I found UNBREAKABLE a great film largely because Shyamalan seemed to understand the yin and yang in comic books between villains and heroes and how they need one another….I was even willing to sit through a performance by that smirking jackass Bruce Willis, one of my least favorite actors of all time.
Now, THE HAPPENING is also not a bad film at least about 50% of it….It reminded me of some 1950’s world is coming to an end Saturday afternoon thriller(here plants emit toxins that make people kill themselves as a defense from continuing abuse of nature by humans)….Some of the mass suicide scenes are generally creepy (the construction workers diving off the building en masse, the hanging tree trimmers as well as the strange old lady the heroes stay with at the end) and nature seeking revenge is a plotline I usually enjoy but there are a number of attempts at quirky black humor that don’t fit here and fall flat on their face (Mark Wahlberg talking to a plastic plant, the scene where he cannot decide whether or not to help a group that is committing suicide) as well as a sub-plot about A RELATIONSHIP (How I hate that word!!!!)….This sensitive men are from Venus bullsh*t doesn’t belong in a movie like this….Every time the married couple hero and heroine start talking about working on “US”, I wished the plants would uproot themselves and take turns beating them to death with a watering can!!!!!!!
Raj Dronamraju 