“Science will come up with some reason to put in the books, but in the end it'll be just a theory. We will fail to acknowledge that there are forces at work beyond our understanding.”

Mark Wahlberg, Ashlyn Sanchez and Zooey Deschanel try to survive 20th Century Fox's The Happening

So says a scientist at one moment during writer/director M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening. Wandering away from Spielberg land (after the disastrous reception of the underappreciated – if highly flawed – Lady in the Water) and going once more to the Hitchcock well that served him so brilliantly in the past (if you can’t see elements of the revered suspense master in The Sixth Sense then you must be blind), the equally loathed and loved filmmaker’s latest is something of a mixed bag.

How so? In many ways, this ecological horror epic is one of the single nastiest and downright terrifying pieces of popular entertainment I’ve seen in ages. In others, it is an unfocused jumble that’s too on the nose featuring stilted dialogue bordering on the Lucas-ian that’s often times unintentionally hilarious. Overall, it leaves a decidedly sour taste in your mouth when all is said and done, yet the pieces that work do so with such amazing brilliance that much of the bitterness only lasts about the time it takes to get inside your car.

If you’re wondering if I’m going to give you a synopsis or talk in any detail about the mechanics of the storyline, forget it. Love it or hate it, I’ve decided I want to make viewers walk into this one as cold as possible. What I will say is that there is no giant twist this time out, no glorious The Sixth Sense bait and switch or insipid The Village final endgame that calls everything you’ve already seen back into question. The film is, by and large, as straight forward as anything the director has ever made, the information you’re given right at the start all you really need to take with you until the climactic end.

What I will talk about are the highs and lows of the piece. On the plus side, Shyamalan creates an almost nauseating sense of oncoming dread right from the very first frame. Following the dynamic pacing of composer James Newton Howard’s hypnotically thumping score (maybe the best of the six he’s composed for the filmmaker), sweat was pouring down across my brow long before the main characters were even introduced.

On the minus side, Mark Walhberg is an empty shell as the lead. As much as I have loved the man in supporting roles (his performances in Three Kings and The Departed are magnificent), as a leading man I have liked him a total of one solitary time (the Disney sports biopic Invincible). I don’t know if it is the lines he is asked to say (some of which, especially a second act dialogue with a houseplant, are pretty inane) or if it is instead the flat monotone he delivers them with, but I didn’t care an ounce for the guy, and as he’s the one we see all the film’s horrors through this is a huge problem almost impossible to overcome.

But there are other issues, not the least of which is a bit of pointless exposition by costar Zooey Deschanel (who, it must be stated, has never looked more ravishing) as she and Walhberg slowly walk through a leafy green field. The finale between the two of them is also a bit of a letdown, Shyamalan letting viewers off the hook allowing them to catch their breath in overly generous sighs of relief instead of going for the jugular in order to leave them gasping and rasping for air.

All the same, this bit of The Birds meets The Day of the Triffids crossed with The Day the Earth Stood Still terror manufactures so much sublime thought-provoking tension I’m almost positive I’ll be thinking about certain aspects of it the entire rest of this year. The death scenes are some of the most potent and powerful we’ve seen in ages, the cold shivers of the dangers the auteur outlines enough to make even the stoutest heart almost crack under the incessant pressure. 

I have no final thoughts to send this commentary out on. The Happening is a movie I know I will watch again, one that might even grow on me to the point I go from lukewarm appreciation all the way to full-blown love like I have with Shyamalan’s Unbreakable. In the end, much like the scientist above I really can’t come up with a reason as to why, even with all its problems, this feature affected me like it has. As the man says, sometimes these things just are a little bit beyond our rational understanding.

Film Rating: êê1/2  (out of 4)

- Review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle

Additional Links:

-  The Happening Theatrical Trailer