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RATING:   
SINGAPORE : It must be said that I was a M Night Shyamalan fan, right up to the ending of Signs.
The Sixth Sense was an intelligent, stylish masterpiece, and Unbreakable was its almost perfect follow-up. But while the build-up of Signs kept me riveted, I was left utterly disappointed — like a slobbery bad kiss at the end of a really good date — with its ridiculous concluding twist.
Hoping to rekindle the flames after the huge stinkers that were The Village and Lady in the Water, Shyamalan is back with The Happening.
Shrouded once again in secrecy, with whispers of a straightforward disaster epic on a natureversus human scale, the film was an opportunity for the one-time highly-regarded director to redeem himself and win back an audience.
How much worse could he get, right?
Thankfully, not much more.
That said, The Happening just about slides by, if only by a whisker. While not without its qualities, it does not live up to expectations — with no thanks to terrible pacing and silly acting.
A neuro-toxin is suddenly and inexplicably released, causing people to suddenly stop in their tracks and proceed to commit the most violent and terrible suicide acts possible.
Mark Wahlberg — in a laughable performance — is a science teacher who tries to figure out what is causing the deadly outbreak whilst fleeing with his wife (the cute but unimportant Zooey Deschanel).
And that’s about all that happens in The Happening. It’s almost like Hitchcock making The Birds... without any birds.
As good as Wahlberg has been in his last few flims, he only manages to muster up a two-prong expression of bland and dim here, with the high-point of his performance involving him talking to a plastic plant.
The actors are only partially to blame. While the story arc itself is strong and potentially thought-provoking, the tempo of the film lets any potential of it being thrilling down. The editing is choppy, rushing through several promising scenes that yearn for Shyamalan’s beautiful, drawn-out shots, only to end up looking clumsy and unintentionally funny.
Oh, and if you’re expecting a signature Shyamalan surprise twist at the end ... well, let’s just say: Surprise! - TODAY/ra
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