watching movies one cup at a time

I feel like the knives were out for M. Night Shyamalan this time around. No matter what movie he did, I get the impression the critics were going to rip him and people just weren’t going to get behind it. I think it’s a common phenomenon where an artist peaks on their first project and then spends the rest of their career trying to best that initial success. And it really does seem like each of his films has gotten weaker and weaker. Now I didn’t hate his last film, The Lady In The Water, like so many other people did. But it wasn’t great. And now we have The Happening and again pressure is put on M. Night Shyamalan to “win back” his audience and live up to the burden of his potential that was put on him after The Sixth Sense.

But unfortunately The Happening isn’t the one that’s going to do that. The story is interesting but it’s paper-thin. There is just not much to grab on to here and the characters spend most of the time running from the wind. Yes, the wind. Sound scary? “It’s getting windy!!! HOLY CRAP!!!” is not really the spine-chilling scream we usually hear in movies like this. But yea, it’s the wind. Ya see, the plants are revolting against the evil, polluting humans and are releasing a chemical toxin into the air that basically reverses a person’s self-preservation instinct. So as a result they immediately kill themselves. I didn’t think about it before I saw the movie, but once I was watching it I realized I was watching over an hour of people committing suicide. Sound like a good time? Not really. It was kind of a big bummer actually. Especially when they throw in kids and parents and all that sentimental stuff that is only there to make you feel terrible.

The film doesn’t really reach a climax. It just kind of rolls to an end like a car slowing to a stop on it’s own momentum. The “scary wind” goes away and people go home. But wait! Paris is next!!!! EVIL WIND!!!!! Ho-hum.

The acting was pretty mediocre here too. I actually don’t mind Mark Wahlberg but he’s the kind of actor that really needs to be in the right hands to bring out a great performance. If the script or director are weak, he goes downhill fast. He pretty much spends the whole movie with a scowl on his face saying things like “I don’t understand. How can this be happening?” And Zooey Deschanel is equally as one-note with a wide-eyed look of confusion at all times. Betty Buckley actually gave the best performance as a peculiar and super-creepy old woman living alone. But her role was brief and ultimately was kind of pointless. Like a distraction to pass the time. The film would have pretty much been the same with or without her scenes.

Will M. Night win back the hearts and minds of the movie-going audience? Maybe. But I think either he needs to really go deep and find a story as good or better than Sixth Sense or go in a completely different direction and stay away from anything resembling science fiction, suspense, or horror. Steven Spielberg mixed it up a lot and has proven his skill in a many different genres, putting out quality blockbusters alongside very personal films. Perhaps M. Night should take a page from Steven’s book and direct an Indiana Jones movie or the next super hero flick. That helped Sam Raimi and John Favreau. Just don’t sink so low you get talked into making “The Sixth Sense 2: The Seventh Sense” or “The Sixth Sense 2: Sixth Sensier!”