M KNIGHT's The Happening

Do NOT read ANY reviews of this movie if you intend to see it!*

*That is... if you intend to see it REGARDLESS of the rating! I can't believe how every review I've read gives away the whole secret of the movie! Perhaps you'll go into it and be pissed when you get the reveal... which you will either enjoy, or be annoyed by, for the rest of the film... but if you want to see this film without knowing the mystery... DO NOT READ ANY REVIEWS! I'm stunned at how even EBERT gives away "the happening" even if he doesn't give away plot structure.

For me... the most eerie feeling about the trailers was imagining myself in this situation... wondering what the hell was going on AND NOT KNOWING WHAT CAUSED IT... regardless of "how do we beat this?"

I don't care NEARLY as much about somebody's struggle to beat an unbeatable opponent... it's far more interesting to NOT KNOW "what's happening" and have to figure it out... unfortunately I gather that this mystery is solved early on... and then you're forced to revel in somewhat of a "commentary" on the issue...

For those who have seen it... is this a reasonably accurate summary of your experience?
 
Wow. Just. Wow.

Legendary.

Legendarily bad.

Here's the thing with this movie. It's bad. No, it's not even bad. It's just incredibly boring. Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuthing happens. Nothing. People just walk around and throw out hypothesis of what might be "happening". Here's the irony. NOTHING HAPPENS!

You know, I realized a few things about M. Night and why he's turned into such a bad director. The guy is obsessed with not using coverage. And I know why. In his mind, it's more "natural" to see two actors speaking in a single (a single means everybody in the same shot, right?). To him this is what "separates" him from the other directors. The thing is, when you use singles, you lose the ability to control 2 things: Rhythm and performance. He doesn't realize that you need GREAT actors to make singles work. And guess what? Marky Mark and Zoey Deschenel are FAR from great actors. They're decent actors at best. That's why Whalberg's performance has been blasted in this movie (and for the most part - it's warranted). Cause in other movies directors have been able to cut around his problems as an actor. My guess is that since Night didn't have Whalberg audition for this, he had no idea that this was the case. He only had Whalberg's performances in other movies to look at. And here's where Night proves he's a bad director. When he realized on the first day of shooting that Whalberg can't act, he should've changed the style of his movie in order to get a better performance (using more coverage). But he didn't. And he's stuck with Whalberg giving a terrible performance.

Another problem is he tries to subdue all his actors' performances. So everybody feels like they have this restraining belt on them. Oh, and there's the small problem that he doesn't know how to write. The conflict between the two lead characters is laughable (Zoey went out on a date with some guy and didn't tell Whalberg). If there's nothing substantial for them to overcome during the course of their journey, what the hell is there to care about? What's causing "the happening?" They state it 20 minutes into the movie. It's the plants. So now what do we have to care about? Nothing!

And yet another thing I find is that Night is very meticulous with his framing. This can be fine if you do it right. But he overdoes it to the point where everything feels very staged. People are standing where they wouldn't stand, just to make the shot look cool. And it adds this weird sort of "alternate reality" type feel to the scenes. Ultimately, it takes you out of the movie.

Oh, and then there's his humor, which is very odd. It's like this ultra-safe audience-friendly humor that feels like it came out of a "how and when to add humor to your movie so it's not too heavy" book. It literally feels like it came out of an equation. "You know hot dogs get a bad rap!" Lame.

I have a feeling. I don't know why. But I have a feeling he wrote this role for Tom Hanks. The reason is it feels like a role he was supposed to play and knowing Night's ego, it is just like him to actually believe he could get Hanks to be in his movie. But the A-List is on to M. Night's facade now, and this has forced him to dip into the B-pool. Once you get these B-rate actors delivering M. Night's lines, you realize how bad of a writer/filmmaker he is. He can't hide behind anything anymore.

Avoid this film at all costs. It's not even good-bad. It's just... boring.

My favorite line from the movie: "We have to outrun the wind!"

?????????????????????????????????

There is only one writer in the world who would write this line.
 
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MattinSTL said:
Do NOT read ANY reviews of this movie if you intend to see it!*

For those who have seen it... is this a reasonably accurate summary of your experience?
Click to expand...

You are definitely right about going in without ANY prior knowledge: I think that one of the movie's relatively-better parts was the mystery portion.

But even that part wasn't very good, was it? I liked the trailer and promise so much better than the movie, itself.
 
c.g._eads said:
Wow. Just. Wow.

Legendary.

Legendarily bad.

Here's the thing with this movie. It's bad. No, it's not even bad. It's just incredibly boring. Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuthing happens. Nothing. People just walk around and throw out hypothesis of what might be "happening". Here's the irony. NOTHING HAPPENS!

You know, I realized a few things about M. Night and why he's turned into such a bad director. The guy is obsessed with one shots. And I know why. In his mind, it's more "natural" to see two actors speaking in a single. To him this is what "separates" him from the other directors. The thing is, when you use singles, you lose the ability to control 2 things: Rhythm and performance. He doesn't realize that you need GREAT actors to make singles work. And guess what? Marky Mark and Zoey Deschenel are FAR from great actors. They're decent actors at best. That's why Whalberg's performance has been blasted in this movie (and for the most part - it's warranted). Cause in other movies directors have been able to cut around his problems as an actor. My guess is that since Night didn't have Whalberg audition for this, he had no idea that this was the case. He only had Whalberg's performances in other movies to look at. And here's where Night proves he's a bad director. When he realized on the first day of shooting that Whalberg can't act, he should've changed the style of his movie in order to get a better performance (using more coverage). But he didn't. And he's stuck with Whalberg giving a terrible performance.

Another problem is he tries to subdue all his actors' performances. So everybody feels like they have this restraining belt on them. Oh, and there's the small problem that he doesn't know how to write. The conflict between the two lead characters is laughable (Zoey went out on a date with some guy and didn't tell Whalberg). If there's nothing substantial for them to overcome during the course of their journey, what the hell is there to care about? What's causing "the happening?" They state it 20 minutes into the movie. It's the plants. So now what do we have to care about? Nothing!

I have a feeling. I don't know why. But I have a feeling he wrote this role for Tom Hanks. But the A-List is on to M. Night's facade now, and this has forced him to dip into the B-pool. Once you get these B-rate actors delivering M. Night's lines, you realize how bad of a writer/filmmaker he is. He can't hide behind anything anymore.

Avoid this film at all costs. It's not even good-bad. It's just... boring.

My favorite line from the movie: "We have to outrun the wind!"

?????????????????????????????????

There is only one writer in the world who would write this line.
Click to expand...


That's a very good review. It tells me exactly why I don't wanna see the movie...and sort of why I do wanna see it--to see how bad it is. Interesting theory about Marky Mark's acting ability being revealed for what it is.

I've respected Shyamalan to date, because he's fought the good fight as an artist, and insisted on making things true to his vision. But if he's going to keep missing the mark by that far over and over again...well...I guess I'd like to know who else helped him write Sixth Sense. Artists aren't going to get it right all the time...but they gotta get it right SOMETIMES.
 
I actually liked it. Its weird and the acting is a bit weak, but it was exactly what I wanted. Its like a modernized 50's b movie...kind of like The day the earth stood still, including message of warning.

What I dont get is how Indiana jones and the kotcs is 77% positive at rotten tomatoes and this is at 19%. People don't give Shyamalan a chance.

It was a waaaaaay better theatrical experience than Indy 4.
 
Weston said:
I actually liked it. Its weird and the acting is a bit weak, but it was exactly what I wanted. Its like a modernized 50's b movie...kind of like The day the earth stood still, including message of warning.

What I dont get is how Indiana jones and the kotcs is 77% positive at rotten tomatoes and this is at 19%. People don't give Shyamalan a chance.

It was a waaaaaay better theatrical experience than Indy 4.
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Good point!!! Indiana Jones was a huge waste of my money. I feel robbed. That movie was such crap. If some folks are liking The Happneing, and it's different, I might just like it too! I certainly detested Indiana Jones, and have lost a lot of faith in the Tomato-meter. Maybe there should be a DVXmeter.
 
sean, there's a reason sixth sense is so good. he wrote 20 drafts of the script. these days, he only writes 3 to 4 drafts. the problem is he believes he's good enough now to make up for the extra 16 drafts that he's not writing. given the man's notorious ego problems, that's not surprising.

even unbreakable, which I'd say is probably his second best movie, is one he had been working on before he hit it big - which is why it doesn't show the strains of too few drafts.

I think this movie's premise is going to pull in a big opening weekend (40-50 mil). But the word of mouth will kill it.
 
I'll probably see it because I WANT to like M Night's flicks... but I'll leave it in the hands of fate... maybe theater... maybe DVD later.

This should tide me over... he's the right age... maybe this series inspired him?

MV5BMjA3MjU0NDAwNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjgwMzAzMQ@@._V1._CR0,0,392,392_SS100_.jpg
 
okay, some friends and i saw this earlier today. wow. we didn't pay for it, and we want our money back.

acting. horrible.

directing. horrible.

dialogue. horrible (cheese and crackers, wtf?)

story. good idea, horribly executed.

worst performance by wahlberg ever. deschanel (sp?) was even worse. i wanted her to die early just so i didn't have to listen to her horrible delivery.

leguizamo was the best performance in the film. hands down. everything else was just shitty.

i have lost all respect i had for m. night. i'll never see another one of his movies again.
 
Damn, I really wanted to see this, too. Guess I'll wait for the DVD to come out. :Drogar-Mad(DBG):
 
MattinSTL said:
Do NOT read ANY reviews of this movie if you intend to see it!*
Click to expand...

who needs to read reviews? the answer to what is "happening" is given to you in the first 10 minutes and pounded into you for the rest of the film.

i remember thinking early on that this was going to be more about a statement than about a story and i was right. then i thought that since the statement is the current hot topic everybody suddenly cares about that i would be caught in some cult-like storm of applause at the end (i saw it in a hip hollywood theater where this kind of crap is likely to happen). fortunately, this movie sucked so bad that all that happened at the end was people walking out pissed, myself included.

m. night used to make well thought out movies with brilliant twists. so here's the twist. "hey, ya know that thing we've been saying throughout the whole movie? ready for the twist? there is no twist. it's exactly what we said 1000 times for the last 2 hours. get it? gotcha."

"F" this movie and "F" m. night.

the movie would have been 100 times better if we discovered what happened at the end. if he had led us down a different path and waited till the talk show broadcast near the end to introduce that idea, it would have been at least interesting.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

if the concept is that we're f'ing up the planet and this is mother nature's only defense and warning system, what the hell are all the hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, tornados, etc. all about?



i have been a sucker for his films since the sixth sense. i even liked the village which a lot of people hated. he lost me on lady in the water but when i heard that he made it for his kids and planned to return to his usual style i was hopeful. this was BS and i am done with him.
 
Most of the hate against M night seems to be personal.

If no one knew who made this movie and there was no M night shyamalan it would be liked alot more.
 
Weston, you are right. The problem is, M. Night spends so much time and energy and effort and marketing on TELLING us that it's his movie, it's impossible not to connect the two. Once you put "An M. Night film" on your poster, you're asking for people to see the movie as your creation. What's Spike Lee's best film since his first couple? The Inside Man, right? Ironically, it was the one movie that he did not promote as "A Spike Lee Film".

A thought: What do babies do? How do they kill themselves?
 
c.g._eads said:
sean, there's a reason sixth sense is so good. he wrote 20 drafts of the script. these days, he only writes 3 to 4 drafts. the problem is he believes he's good enough now to make up for the extra 16 drafts that he's not writing. given the man's notorious ego problems, that's not surprising.

even unbreakable, which I'd say is probably his second best movie, is one he had been working on before he hit it big - which is why it doesn't show the strains of too few drafts.

I think this movie's premise is going to pull in a big opening weekend (40-50 mil). But the word of mouth will kill it.
Click to expand...

you're mistaken about the number of drafts he typically writes. I don't think you can draw a valid correlation there to the quality of his recent films. Lady in the Water, for example, had at least 13 drafts. On the DVD he states it wasn't until draft 13 that things started to come together for him.

And this B.S. about his having an out of control ego doesn't reflect the person I've come to know. He's easily one of the friendliest, most welcoming filmmakers I've had the pleasure to meet. the ego thing is largely a media creation as far as I can tell. he nurtures a truly family-like atmosphere on set. but i suppose it's a better story if the one time overnight success gets too big for his britches before falling from grace... but it doesn't reflect reality. the guy is simply confident in his ideas. and what director worth his salt isn't?
 
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ZFarms Productions said:
worst performance by wahlberg ever.
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Ha ha....I just saw this trailer again tonight and I kept laughing at how silly and wooden he sounded. "Nobody cares what's happening TO ALL THE BEES???" Couldn't tell if it was in the lines or his performance or both.

Too bad. I was probably waiting anyway, but DVD for sure.
 
well I'll be honest that I didn't know how many drafts Lady in the Water took, but I read a few articles that stated he only wrote a few drafts of the movies after Unbreakable. Regardless of if that's true (what constitutes an official "draft rewrite" is subjective anyway), the reality is he doesn't put nearly as much time into them as he did the Sixth Sense, which he honed over a few years. Now, since coming out with a new film every couple of years, we can deduce that he only has a year at most to write the film (assuming he hasn't started it earlier - which he's indicated in interviews that he hasn't). Obviously, less time means the writing is going to suffer.

As for who M. Night is *personally*, I've only heard good things (some from yourself). I'm talking about his professional career though. And in that realm, I don't think there's any questioning that M. Night has huge ego problems. In "The Man Who Heard Voices", which depicts his plight to make "Lady In The Water", there are upwards of twenty instances where his ego is completely out of control. This is a book he does not condemn, but rather reluctantly acknowledges as a true account of himself (This is a good read btw - I recommend any film fan to pick it up).
 
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yes, the honeybees line and whalberg's delivery are classic.

"Has anybody heard about what's happening to honey bees?"

It's just... off.
 
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