*** Official THE HAPPENING Review Thread

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Review Thread

A complete turd of a film. You have been warned.

I give it 1 star or a grade of D.

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Review Thread

this movie was so bad not even M Knight made a cameo appearance this time around most likely due to embarrasment. Honestly the acting was terrible, the dialogue was terrible, the plot was horrific and people at the end of the movie boo'd.

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Review Thread

Worst movie of the summer.....so far.

Grade: D

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Review Thread

The Happening is really bad. The acting is abysmal and I'm a guy who is a fan of non-traditional choices in acting (in other words, I like when actors try something that may be over the top or just plain weird) and this movie's performances are almost all terrible especially Zooey Deschannel. Rather than using any of the talent in Los Angeles or New York, they seemed to have hired alot of local talent for smaller parts and it's not hard to spot them. That being said, I can only assume that Shyamalan wanted 'B movie' performances from his actors but the rest of the movie wasn't a B movie so the actors end up looking terrible when it probably isn't all their fault.

I still love M. Night Shyamalan and I know he's got some great movies left in him but this made me long for The Lady In The Water (which is the only Shyamalan movie that I didn't like).

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Review Thread

Wow! This was the funniest comedy I've ever seen! I laughed so hard I thought I was going to wet myself. It was.....huh? This was supposed to be a drama? Awwwwwww crap.

out of

p.s. It was made even funnier by the fact that the projectionist screwed up, causing all of the boom mics to be visible. i almost went and told someone but thought better of it as counting the boom mics gave me something to do.

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Review Thread

Worst film I've seen in a VERY long time. Ugh. I mean very bad.

How can someone who writes and directs 6th Sense, Unbreakable, & Signs do something like this? Drugs? ...

A generous 2/10. (1 for Walhberg, the other 1 for Zooey's eyes).

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Just saw this one. Pretty good, enjoyed it very much. Not perfect (with some "odd scenes") and not as good as e.g. "Signs" or some other films by the director, but still.

I don´t want to say much on the plot, since I don´t want to spoil anything (quite easy to do that again..), but when it was spooky, it was spooky, when it was funny, it was funny and when it was "emotional", it was emotional. A couple of decent "scares" also (not in the "traditional" sense, though) and that "sad, downbeat, melancholy" feel that Shyamalan can do so well. Not much talking when the lights came out, which is always the sign that the audience "connected" to the film at least in some "emotional" level (at least with the main characters - even if the story was too over-the-top). Perhaps this film fares better for the European audience? Not sure..

Sure, again quite difficult subject matter from Shyamalan and I´m pretty sure that the "Shyamalan haters" will have a field day with some of the scenes (or it might be, that they find the whole "concept" too "silly" and all that), but IMO this definitely comes recommended.

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

Ok, went with my 14 year old daughter to see it for Fathers Day and we both liked it. Did we love it...no, but it was what I thought it would be. Very entertaining in spots and head scratching in others.

In reading this board and others is one reason I love M. Nights movies (maybe not the movies themselves but the ideas). They make you think, talk, discuss, bicker, groan...whatever you want to call it they do something. He doesn't do anything cookie cutter he makes odd choices, takes risks, walks out on the plank and I respect that and in fact in these days of the same old let's see what a Marvel has to raid or some old TV show we can remake he just takes a idea(dumb or not) and runs with it. For every one he might miss the mark there is a really good one waiting. Frankly I hope he or others like him never gives up becasue what we have left is more scary than the movie was. I frankly don't want to discuss if the Hulk was the right shade of green but I do like reading thoughts on this movie(good or bad).

I read somewhere(Entertainment Weekly online?) that this was sort of intended as a B-type movie.

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Also, on comments about why it didn't effect the lady in the park in the beginning or the guy at the end. I think it did effect them both but just not at the same time. If you watch her face as the other one puts the hair thing in her neck the lady then had a very blank look on her face and looked like it had taken her over. As for the guy they really didn't focus on him at the very very end, I think it just hit some people on a delayed basis. I was curious about the one couple they didn't show again...the plant/hot dog guy and his wife. Him being so nice to plants I was curious if he would catch a break but they didn't show them again.
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Kind of fun when we left the theater, the wind was blowing really hard so I started goofing with my daughter it was THE Happening" and stopped had a blank look on my face and started walking backwards..lol...Good times. Like I said not great but glad I saw it and didn't listen to the masses (think for yourselves..or just think period)

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Discussion Thread

My wife and I saw it over the weekend. I had heard all the net talk about it being bad and based on the previews and some clips on late night talk shows, I was expecting the worst. My wife, on the other hand, knew nothing about the film going in other than what she had seen in some commercials. We both liked it okay. For her, she bought into the premise and was tense throughout the film. For me, seeing the scenes in context helped make the dialogue/delivery a bit more acceptable. Overall, I give it probably a C+.

Re: *** Official THE HAPPENING Review Thread

I went this morning with a buddy who is a huge Shyamalan fan. I wasn't sure I was going to see this in theaters despite also liking his films. I was put off by the R-rating and by the avalanche of negative reviews both "professional" and on boards like this one.

It was not nearly as bad as the buzz seems to indicate. I'd probably give it a B-. There has been a lot of complaints directed at the acting, but I found it to be appropriate for the tone of the film. Like all of Shyamalan's films you have to buy in to his conceits.

I did not think that the gore added much to the film and I probably could've done with out most of it. If you are one who likes the unique style of Shyamalan you will probably enjoy this film as well, but it is definitely not his best. I think both my friend and I would place it at the bottom of his oeuvre. (yes, even below Lady which I actually thought worked fairly well when viewed as intended as a modern fairy tale).