Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Screenplay; M. Night Shyamalan

Running time: 1 hr 31 mins

Genre: Thriller



CRITIQUE:



From the director whose visionary flair is attached to that of a modern-day Hitchcock, the one that gave us works such as the extraordinarily unforgettable THE SIXTH SENSE, the suspenseful SIGNS, the brilliant UNBREAKABLE, and the fascinating but overlooked THE VILLAGE – comes up with something that his aforementioned efforts never dared to do: a massive inkblot on his otherwise clean and spotless CV. This is THE HAPPENING, and this might be Shyamalan’s greatest downfall to date and perhaps threaten his directing and, even more so, his writing duties. Okay, we knew he did that odd THE LADY IN THE WATER, but it felt like there was a kid somewhere behind the lens wanting to share a mermaid-lore and that’s forgivable. But this, a film with a plot that seems to lose its stride, each pieces falling down like domino effect, or perhaps the falling of dominoes are more appealing to watch.


It has a promising premise, commencing with some chilly scenes at Central Park but soon as Mark Wahlberg’s high school teacher arrives in the scene, there is a succinct certainty that this is such a wooden affair. His character has an unbelievable absence of depth, and judging from that classroom scene and from then on, his expressions and dialogues felt more like scripted rather than spontaneous as a human in panic and beleaguered of the befalling events. There’s a work of miscasting here, and Zooey Deschanel, playing the wife, gives a wide-eyed performance that is just simply appalling. These two actors look as though there’s no chemistry or whatsoever between them, or that they’re plainly running out of employment.


And it all goes down to Shyamalan, whose striking name evokes tingles and chills, usually appearing before the screen plate “written, produced and directed by” at every end of his film. There is no denying that he is a director with a skill, proven in his former works, and a harbinger of excellent twisteroos. Although he couldn’t carry on bending twists forever, to which this film is absent from, at least he should differentiate a good plot from a terrible one. Or perhaps he might be endorsing environmentalism. There isn’t just a good movie happening here.


VERDICT:

Monstrously disappointing littered with a preposterous plot, uninspired directing, and appalling performances. If M. Night Shyamalan decides to do another film, he better stay far away from science-fiction as much as possible.



RATING: D