The Happening

[Guest Smues]

I KNEW that was the ending of the movie! I fucking knew it.

One thing, though: Is the planet fighting back by, like, just killing people? Or is it making people go insane and kill each other?

 

The planet causes people to kill themselves. I think all but two deaths in the movie were suicides.

[Atticus Chaos 0]

I just saw it. It wasn't that bad. Just a fun little B movie. The deaths were probably the best part. The dialogue came off as totally false though, and Mark Wahlberg is the least believable science teacher in the history of film.

[bob_barron 0]

I saw THE HAPPENING yesterday morning and loved it. I have seen and loved all of M. Night's movies (they aren't all good, but I happen to like them). I love how some people are taking this movie so seriously. When I was watching it, the whole thing screamed 1950's cheesy b-level sci-fi film. The overacting, the writing, the story and the music. I would like to ask M. Night if that was one of his objectives, because if it was he pulled it off perfectly. If not, it was a still a good homage to one.

 

If M. Night meant to make a legit good movie, would that change your opinion?

 

My main issue with the movie, besides the horrible acting, plot and dialogue, was that the movie did a good job of building tension, but it never actually built to anything. You kept waiting for something to happen, and then Mark Wahlberg apologised to a crazy old lady.

[Ripper 0]

And then I hate hearing how "the twist wasn't that great" even when people are talking about Signs.

explain how that twist doesn't make the aliens into just the dumbest possible sentient beings in the history of anything.

 

 

Because the movie doesn't have a fucking twist.

 

Yes this response is about 2 pages late, but there is no twist in the movie. At all. People say there is a twist because of it being a shamalalamama movie.

 

And I still don't get the bitching over the end. Its basically war of the world ending. I don't remember people bitching about that.

 

[bob_barron 0]

Everyone bitched about the War ending

[Ripper 0]

Just so we are clear, we aren't talking about the War movie, right?

[bob_barron 0]

Haha, I just remember when War of the Worlds came out, people bitched about the ending.

 

The ending to War, starring Jet Li and Jason Statham, was awesome

[bob_barron 0]

The Happening did not rock IIRC

[RepoMan 0]

Haha, I just remember when War of the Worlds came out, people bitched about the ending.

 

The total ignorance from most of the public of the movie's source material pissed me the fuck off. But I was pissed the son and his ex-wifes side of family survived just by chilling in their flat in Boston.

 

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Haha, I just remember when War of the Worlds came out, people bitched about the ending.

 

The total ignorance from most of the public of the movie's source material pissed me the fuck off. But I was pissed the son and his ex-wifes side of family survived just by chilling in their flat in Boston.

 

Yeah that's what bugged me too, I was fine with the 'original' flu killing them all thing, but families surviving by playing scrabble at grannys house? Fuck that.

 

[JohnnyBlaze 0]

I almost saw this this weekend...but im glad i bailed on it...everyone is killing it..

 

he lost me at "my name is mr. glass"

[cabbageboy 0]

The ending of War of the Worlds was kinda crappy, not so much for the reason for the alien defeat but as everyone noted the notion that his son survived and all that. It felt like a tacked on happy ending.

 

As far as War goes, I guessed the ending to that in the first 10 minutes. Well maybe not the true motives of Statham, but I did guess the part about Jet Li.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I thought the Village was Shyamalan's worst movie.

[bob_barron 0]

I agree with everyone that the son living in War of the Worlds was the worst part. I would've had no problem with the ending if the son had died- it made no sense that he goes to fight the aliens, and then lucky for him! He winds up in Boston too!

[Youth N Asia 0]

I thought the Village was Shyamalan's worst movie.

 

I was alright with it till they did their first "OH, WHAT A TWIST."

the monsters aren't real

I lost interest in the movie right then. So by the time he did his second "OH, WHAT A TWIST!"

we're actually in current times

I didn't care cause the movie had already been wrecked for me.

 

A lot of people shit on Signs, but I like that movie. Unbreakable was a great idea and cool ending, but painfully slow otherwise

[cabbageboy 0]

The biggest problem I have with The Village isn't the lame plot twists, but the fact that the 2nd one you mentioned is a blatant cheat. Consider:

 

Near the beginning of the film we see a grave marked something like 1893, or at least it was quite a long time ago. This to me actually establishes the fact that it is supposed to be another era, then we find out it's current times. If there wasn't a grave and we simply never knew the year at all, then I wouldn't have had a problem with it.

[Ravenbomb 0]

I think Unbreakable would've had a fantastic ending if not for the title cards. I don't know who's bright idea it was to puss out and put those in, but they screwed up the otherwise great ending.

[2GOLD 0]

 

Does The Village really need spoiler tags? I mean honestly, if someone hasn't seen it by now then odds are they didn't want to see it so who are we really going to be spoiling it for?

 

And a year on a headstone doesn't really establish anything other than how long a community has been around and try to catch you off guard. It's actually a rather lazy plot device.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

I was alright with it till they did their first "OH, WHAT A TWIST."...I didn't care cause the movie had already been wrecked for me.

 

Well, the first mistake they made was the promotion of the movie. The trailer was totally misleading. You're going into this movie thinking its this kind of film and then when you left the theater, you're pissed because you felt cheated by seeing a completely different kind of movie! Oh, and the second twist was icing on the shit cake.

 

A lot of people shit on Signs, but I like that movie.

 

I did it too. It's the only other M. Night movie I actually enjoyed besides the 6th Sense. Unfortunately, ever since the 6th sense, it's now traditionally to stick a creepy little kid in every scary / horror movie, sometimes with the kid actually being scarier than the actual monster / killer (The Ring)

 

Does The Village really need spoiler tags? I mean honestly, if someone hasn't seen it by now then odds are they didn't want to see it so who are we really going to be spoiling it for?

 

But it's the principle!!!

[RepoMan 0]

I really liked Signs. I love the whole concept that if there was an alien invasion, they'd know not to use their technology, knowing that us humans would use nukes. I totally forgot about the whole water nonsense after only seeing it once. I see it as a great psychological thriller, with Mel Gibson (who I hate as a person) doing a great job as a family man turn by circumstances to question his faith (and I'm agnostic).

[cabbageboy 0]

I dunno, I figure since The Village isn't THAT old of a movie some people might not want it spoiled. If I'm discussing Star Wars or something, to hell with the tags. But since no one cares about The Village....

 

If I recall that grave in The Village was actually a recently dug grave with a new head stone, so it was definitely there to tell you an exact year, only to pull the rug out later.

[Scroby 0]

Ok, I'm not going to see this movie just because I know better, so someone explain this to me.

 

How the fuck is the Earth making people go insane?

[2GOLD 0]

Ok, I'm not going to see this movie just because I know better, so someone explain this to me.

 

How the fuck is the Earth making people go insane?

 

It's actually pretty simple

the plants release a neurotoxin into the air that effects the brain chemistry making people want to kill...you know what, elves. It's using elves.

 

Honestly The Village really could have been a good film. It could have been. But a lot of it fell flat, the plot wasn't well put together and it tried twisting so much that it just started hitting all kinds of wrong marks. Unbreakable could have been amazing but man it suffered from horrible pacing problems. And SIGNS isn't a bad film at all, just not the kind of movie that needs to be seen more than once.

[Black Lushus 0]

I'll agree on Unbreakable...as much as I love that film, it certainly drags. I think I'm more of a fan of the concept of the film and it's two lead actors than I am the film itself. It's refreshing to see an every day Joe discover he has super powers and uses them in a realistic way rather than donning tights and battling vile supervillians in huge explosive battles.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, I actually saw The Happening today. It's certainly more entertaining than either The Village or Lady in the Water if nothing else, but below his first 3 movies. Sure, it's goofy as hell but at least this film actually moves and has a pace.

 

The acting was bizarre throughout. Zooey Deschanel seemed like she was coked out of her mind for most of the film. Wahlberg was similar to this as well. Leguizamo at least was fairly credible for his part and didn't embarrass himself.

 

The various deaths were hilarious. The chick stabbing herself at the beginning, the guy running himself over with the combine, the one dude at the zoo letting lions eat his arms. Just riotous stuff.

 

I actually quite liked the Mrs. Jones scenes, though I can see why some wouldn't. The scene with Wahlberg in her room and she comes out of nowhere and yells "What are you doing with my things??" was the one actual chill in the film.

 

Anyway The Happening certainly isn't a GOOD movie by any means, but if you want a cheap rental someday it's worth a viewing for laughs.

[godthedog 0]

Zooey Deschanel seemed like she was coked out of her mind for most of the film.

zooey deschanel is a pretty awful actress in general. but i could swim forever in the deep opaque blueness of those eyes.

[Ravenbomb 0]

zooey deschanel is a pretty awful actress in general.

LIES!

[Atticus Chaos 0]

Zooey Deschanel is one of these indie actresses that gets credit for being very talented, but if you watch her, she's not that great an actress at all (like Mena Suvari). She picks less commercial projects so everyone just assumes she's got this terrific talent but she's pretty average.

[cabbageboy 0]

I think Zooey is a pretty decent deadpan comedic actress from what I've seen, but an end of the world horror thriller is a bit out of her area.

 

Anyway, The Happening is still a "so bad it's good" flick, probably best viewed while intoxicated.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Zooey Deschanel seemed like she was coked out of her mind for most of the film.

zooey deschanel is a pretty awful actress in general. but i could swim forever in the deep opaque blueness of those eyes.

I was just coming here to post that. M. Night does have a mild gift for making slight, large-eyed actresses look amazing.

 

This was pretty silly, though it wasn't laugh-your-ass-off bad. Like gtd, I was confused as to what he was going for here; it seemed like he wanted a serious terror-filled family drama at the outset and a sci-fi melange as he got into actually making the movie, and then wasn't willing to kill his darlings and focus on only one of those aspects.

 

Embarrassingly, this is probably his second-best effort.