America's plant life decides, in unison, to combat human development and expansion by releasing toxins that cause people to freeze, spout gibberish, and then commit suicide. High school teacher Elliot Moore and his wife Alma attempt to flee until the catastrophe passes. Stars Mark Wahlberg, Zoey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, and Ashlyn Sanchez. Directed and written by M. Night Shyamalan, and released in 2008.
Boring and stupid, The Happening suffers from a lot of problems that present themselves early and persist for the duration. It lacks a villain, for one, and even in terms of natural disaster movies, wind blowing through grass isn't ever going to look terrifying or even ominous. For another, its premise claims that plants are releasing a toxin that removes humanity's self-preservation instinct. Now, this presumes that once the instinct to preserve oneself is gone, one immediately tries to destroy itself, which is perhaps profound in one sense but is mostly just illogical, and again, not very scary or thrilling. The ecological overtone seems misguided and suffers from a confused philosophy, relying too heavily on human terms. If we don't curb our assault on nature, nature will assault us? That's not how it works. Nature simply continues on with indifference, and it is man who is the architect of his own demise. The message here, if anything, is that nature is out to get us. Not to mention, poor performances from actors who should know better playing characters we are not made to care about, absolutely no thrills or tension, and despite an R rating, was mild in virtually every aspect, particularly for a movie about mass suicide. Worst Shyamalan movie I've ever seen.
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