The Happening

So we went to see The Happening. After Lady in the Water, I was hoping Mr. Shyamalan would get back into form. But, apparently not. It's an improvement, but not by a whole lot.

I disliked the Science diatribes. I can't determine if Shyamalan or his characters have a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution.

But, there were many scenes that I liked. The general creepiness of what "happens," the curve of how it progresses, and some of the characters are interesting. Mark Wahlberg was well-cast. I get a feeling his scene with the plastic plant got him the role, or it was the bit of the script that brough Mark to mind. The Mrs. Jones stuff was really good.

I find that as the film fades in my memory, I remember the bits I liked, not the bits I didn't. I have a feeling Night thinks of Signs as a movie that deals with religion, and Happening as one the deals with Science. Unfortunately, it didn't handle the science at all well, whereas I liked the way Signs handled religion (that it could be interpreted either way).

So for me, in order of enjoyability:

Sixth Sense/Unbreakable
The Village
Signs
The Happening
Lady in the Water

With a rather large gap between TH and LitW.

If his next film disappoints, I'm giving up. I liked both Signs and The Village, so for me it's only 2 real klunkers since Unbreakable. And I gotta say, The Happening could have been much worse.