The Happening

So, um, yes, I'm an opening weekend person for Shyamalan films. And Tyler Perry films. And yes those two are very different.

I want to preface my thoughts with two things....
1) The Village is my favorite Shyamalan film. I know a lot of people hated it. I think that's partly because the movie delivered something different than what they were expecting. Some people hated Signs for the same reason. I love them both.

2) I'd rather watch a bad Shyamalan film than many many many other things. Because even if the story is, er, weak (Lady in the Water) the storytelling is still good.

I really enjoyed The Happening. There are some great jump in your seat scenes, an interesting array of characters, and the usual exploration of something beneath the surface. The obvious message of the film is environmental, and the R rating is deserved for some very disturbing images. But those images are all, there isn't much language and there's no sex.

What drove me absolutely nuts was Mark Wahlberg's performance. He was just a bit too Aw, shucks for me. I felt like he didn't really bring any depth to his character at all but played him in a very obvious way. And Zooey Deschanel was okay, but I kept seeing Bones in her face. Ha. (ok, I just read that this movie was supposed to be like 50's horror films, so maybe I can give Wahlberg a pass)

James Newton Howard brought another gorgeous score and quite honestly, I think the score added a lot to the film. Well, it always does.

No major twists, but still a great film. Definitely better than Lady in the Water but not as good as The Village. In short, I'm still a Shyamalan film and find that his movies are more than the typical movie going experience.