Two big movies have arrived at the theater, and both fail to draw me in. The Hulk appears to be about a big green guy smashing stuff, and the Happening appears to be an indulgent mistake on Shyamalan's part.

Always start at green, so let's talk about the Hulk. I don't see how a coherent and satisfying film could be created using this subject matter. As far as I can tell, it's about a guy who turns into a mean, green, destruction machine and trashes tons of stuff. Ok, what can you do with that? I think you would have to be a cinematic genius to create a good movie about the Hulk. However, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind defeats this hypothesis by succeeding despite an unattractive premise. One important fact though is that Miyazaki (the maker of Nausicaa) is a genius, and I don't think these guys who made the Hulk are at his level.


As for The Happening, I was seriously rooting for Shyamalan to have success with this one. Alas, that appears unlikely due to the all but universal disdain for this flick. For me, this movie never seemed that intriguing, but it seemed almost pathetic when its R rating was used as a selling point in its marketing campaign. What is this, 3rd grade? An R rating is irrelevant to a movie's cinematic quality. After that, I knew doom was nigh. On a side note, why does every review of The Happening seem to concentrate as much on Shyamalan as it does on the movie itself? Because his movies are unique, and he kind of tries to turn himself into a brand name, Shyamalan brings this attention onto himself. But that does not mean that people should review M. Night Shyamalan instead of the movie that he made. The unfairness most critics show in their examination of The Happening gives me a miniscule amount of hope, but I have to admit that the odds look grim.[INDENT]