The Happening ~~

M. Night Shyamalan, the director, is possibly the next Hitchcock. But not quite. His films are going to have to get a bit better than this offering. He's exceptionally good at building tension in all his films' but often lacks the kick in the ass at the end which the audience have come to expect. Or, perhaps I'm totally wrong and I've already become a desensitised and hyper-critical viewer?

The story goes like this - suburban high-school teacher Mark Walberg is happily teaching away when suddenly shit starts to happen in a nearby city. No-one is quite sure what's going on but slowly reports start to emerge that people are dying. And not just dying, they're willing killing themselves. Is this another zombie movie you ask? No. Guess again. You'll never guess. Oh, go on. What do you think? Virus, dirty-bomb? No, guess again. That's all I'm going to say on that matter.

Whatever. Mayhem and violence ensue and pretty soon everyone, EVERYONE, is running about trying to get away from the birds... doh, I didn't mean birds, I meant whatever it is. (If I'd seen more Hitchcock films I could probably have gone on taking the piss out of the genre and inserting various options into the 'baddie' space for quite some time.)

Walberg, girlfriend, best friend and daughter hatch a plan to exit the city as soon as possible, board a train then find the 'evil' heading their way. They all run. A lot. Then some more. Hard work. Lots of people die all over the place. Theories abound as to what's caused the now world-wide massacre until suddenly, science teacher Marky Mark has a thought. It could be the... (shall'nt ruin it for you.)

The film makers have a good stab at injecting some emotional tension into the flick but frankly, it's a bit crap and therefore lost on me. All I really cared about in the end was whether Walberg was going to do battle with something supernatural like Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis got to in their Shyamalan films. I think I missed the point, or the point missed me.

Don't get me wrong, there were some memorable bits in the film. There's a funny scene when, having broken into a strangers house for refuge, Walberg is thinking out loud and then begins to start questioning a plastic house plant. (It will make sense when you see the film.) And it's suitably scary in parts. I jumped at least 3 inches out of my chair for one particular scene.

The real climax of the film is also pretty tense. At the end of the world, it does make you wonder whether you too would risk it all to be with the one you love.

There's an extremely pertinent point made about the disappearance of the bees (which is bloody true right now and could in fact mark the beginning of the end for us humans...) as well as intelligent comments about the poor state of our planet in general. And believe me, you too will end up wondering if, when the wind is blowing in your direction, they will get you in the end........

A 'could do better' film. Although, I sense that this is still an improvement on Shyamalan's last submission, the mermaid thingy which I avoided like the plague but was told I was right to do so and that it didn't make any sense and was generally a bit crap. This certainly had to be better than that? Comments please.

(Viewed 18/06/08)