Honest Film Review: The Happening (2008) - It was not happening.

Other than The Sixth Sense, and that one card in Cards Against Humanity; I'm not a big fan of being driven through chicanes by M. Night Shyamalan . So why did I decide to watch and write about The Happening? Because I feel that films that I know nothing about, that I've heard nothing about; might be worth watching.

Dramatically, as I sat down to watch The Happening; the heavens opened; and there was some torrential rain. Completely the opposite of how the film opens. Sunshine. A very 35mm, retro; style of film production.

Then, everyone freezes in their tracks. The film quickly makes its point. Something is happening, and it is apparently causing people to just die.

Oh, they're suicides - people start to flee the city, and there's a distinct lack of panic in a scene at train station. The acting is awkward, the visual style doesn't match the narrative that is trying to be depicted. The lack of panic in the film is truly unsettling.

Shots look as though they've been staged by a first year film student. There's nothing creative here. I guess there was the intent of going for an eerie feel to the whole thing, and I guess that works. Just. The complete lack of panic; spectacle, and the calmness that the world has while this crisis, The Happening occurs is unbelievable.

The whole film carries that strain; and the acting is un-memorable and forced. The innumerable costume changes that occur to the main cast throughout the film, while travelling in an event of apocalyptic nature (though, underplayed) doesn't make any sense.

It would be easier at this point to say "the film's shit, don't bother" but that wouldn't make for a very interesting review. The film doesn't tell a story as much as it shows people in a situation, and fails to realistically portray how they would react in that very situation.

_{"The film's shit, don't bother"}

There's a particularly hilarious scene about half way through where a group of characters you don't care about try to outrun the wind it is a horrible scene, but the closest it comes to cinematic bliss is the music used at this point, mainly because there's none of the terribly written dialogue occurring at the same time.

The only saving grace of the film is when you get to gaze upon the visage of Zoey Deschanel. Mark Walhberg's acting is okay, for the first 15 minutes of the film, before his performance devolves into that of a slack jowled yokel, afraid that he might get escorted off the set by a pair of security guards.

It is an awful film, with the soundtrack being the only part of the film that you could consider memorable; even though, it borrows heavily from other cinematic scores. Nothing memorable here, except for maybe this review. Don’t waste a second more of your life. Unless you want to look upon Zoey. Then, waste away.