The Happening (2008)

Synopsis:

When the plants of the world begin releasing a toxin that causes people to commit violent suicide, a man (Wahlberg) and his estranged wife (Deschanel) are among the survivors who desperately search for a safe haven.

Our Thoughts:

M. Night Shyamalan, who kicked things off with a bang with his directorial debut The Sixth Sense, hasn’t had the best of luck since. While he was able to manage a decent film with Lady In The Water (2006) - and Unbreakable wasn’t half bad either - his other films (Signs (2002), The Village (2004)) have both been huge disappointments.

Now, he’s coming out with The Happening an eco-friendly thriller following on the success of The Day After Tomorrow (2004). While that film talked about the ways humans are destroying nature - and thus themselves - The Happening looks to be taking the ol’ tried-and-true B-movie approach, as Mother Nature tries to rid itself of the pollution that is the human race.

Apparently, The Happening originally started out titled The Green Effect when M. Night Shyamalan first started shopping the script around - but that version couldn’t find a studio. Forced to re-write the film, M. Night Shyamalan found a buyer in 20th Century Fox, and re-titled the movie The Happening.

Shyamalan has a couple of stars in this one - as he does in most of his films - that could help make the film even better - or they could help put it to rest. Mark Wahlberg has surprised everyone since his film debut back in 1993, eventually dropping his failing music career and brainless modeling gigs to become an actor - and has earned his share of rave reviews along the way. His last two films showed his uneven role choices, as he did a great job in Martin Scorcese’s The Departed - and then got followed that up with the lackluster Shooter (2007). In The Happening, he could mesh well with up-and-comer Zooey Deschanel - who seems to be the new “It” girl in Hollywood recently, which is at least partially due to her turn in the Sci-Fi Channel TV Mini-Series Tin Man.

Unfortunately, comparisons to both it’s eco-friendly predecessor The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and what looks to be inevitable comparisons to War Of The Worlds (2005) may hurt The Happening’s chances at box office success.

And, the script re-write may lower those chances even more - or maybe 20th Century Fox was able to help M. Night Shyamalan dig deeper than he did with Signs (2002) and The Village (2004) to give viewers something spectacular once again.

So, how many others out there are hoping Shyamalan still has another extraordinary movie in him?