Seeing The Happening is like going on an outing with an earnest person, who happens to be a drunk. Every time it starts to make sense, it slurs its speech and starts dropping things -- such as coherence and credibility.
The Happening (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 167
Fresh: 31
Rotten:136
Average Rating: 4.1/10
Consensus: The Happening begins with promise, but unfortunately descends into an incoherent and unconvincing trifle.
Theatrical Release:Jun 13, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $64,384,941
Synopsis: M. Night Shyamalan directs this thriller about a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) who tries to escape with his wife and friend's daughter after an apocalyptic event. THE HAPPENING costars Zooey... M. Night Shyamalan directs this thriller about a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) who tries to escape with his wife and friend's daughter after an apocalyptic event. THE HAPPENING costars Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo. [More]
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenwriter: M. Night Shyamalan
Producer: M. Night Shyamalan, Sam Mercer, Barry Mendel
Composer: James Newton Howard
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Release:
Oct 7, 2008
Reviews for The Happening
More than anything, what bothers me about it is a sense of cheapness that ... centrally comes from a concept mainly built for shock value.
While not as laughable as the narcissistic Lady in the Water ,it fails just as miserably as narrative and even more miserably with its flat characters and tone deaf dialogue.
[A]n astonishment, so idiotic in conception and inept in execution that, after seeing it, one almost wonders whether it was real or imagined.
It's a great idea. A silent, unknown killing machine knocking people off while a science teacher tries to figure out why. But it just didn't work.
Shyamalan's latest is an improvement, but a full-fledged comeback ain't happening.
Shyamalan is a master at a visual iconic moment - but the "filler" (you might have learned about it in English class by this name: "story") gets weaker and weaker every film.
The M. Knight brilliance is there in quick jolts of suspense and terror, but those moments are the exception in this otherwise flat little thriller.
Shyamalan's religious ideas are a lot like Bush's: Nearly theology free.
M. Night Shyamalan offers up low-intensity thrills that fail to match the shivery shudders of his best work (THE SIXTH SENSE, SIGNS). His patented approach - mixing domestic drama with horror - plays out on a much larger canvas.
It is the first film of his career that feels incompetent and utterly gratuitous at times.
Shyamalan creates another urban myth with this slow burning thriller. But it never quite comes to life, due to stiff directing and acting
Usually Shyamalan can hide his limitations as a screenwriter behind his skill as a director. Here, that skill fails him as well, and the whole movie falls apart.
Un nuevo fiasco de M. Night Shyamalan, que sigue siendo un director con ideas interesantes (tanto argumentales como visuales) pero que necesita urgentemente la ayuda de un buen guionista.
The Happening is an awful letdown, yet it leaves you with something new, as a gently waving tree -- that classical image of pastoral tranquillity -- mutates into a harbinger of doom.
This major studio release asks the question, how long can you survive on past glories? Shame on Shyamalan.
An atmospheric tale that rewards with genuine shocks instead of big bang explosions and a hamburger tie in.
[N]owhere near the level of The Sixth Sense, and not quite as good as the subsequent Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village, but at least it suggests that the awfulness of Lady in the Water may have been an aberration.
Latest News for The Happening
January 21, 2009:
Razzies Name 2008's Worst Movie Nominees
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year's winners will... More...
July 06, 2008:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Hancock shows some attitude at the box office
Despite a critical panning, Hancock scores at the Box Office. More...
June 19, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Get Smart Spies Top Spot
Two big star-driven studio comedies invade North American multiplexes on Friday giving audiences even more choices during what has been a scorching hot June box office. Steve... More...
June 16, 2008:
WNYC RADIO: A numbing polemical morality tale in dreary doomsday thriller clothing, this dull downer for all its mass panic attack high alert mode, may be more effective in unintentionally boring people to death. ![]()
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