“The Happening” (2008) can be goofy at times, and it ultimately doesn’t stick the landing. But because M. Night Shyamalan – even in weaker films such as this one – always meticulously plans his films out, it’s nonetheless rather fascinating.
It makes me want to listen to a commentary track to find out, for instance, what the writer-director intended with the man in the boarded-up house or with Mrs. Jones, who is bizarrely mean to strangers in need of help.
The unseen antagonist
If “Signs” is Shyamalan’s attempt to make a monster scary despite only showing it a half-dozen times, “The Happening” is his attempt to make the antagonist scary even though it can’t be seen. “Twister” successfully made wind scary, and “The Happening” attempts to make a brisk breeze scary, as invisible spores in plants are making people commit grisly suicides on the spot.
From July 19-23, leading up to the theatrical release of “Old,” Reviews from My Couch is looking back at five films from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan that we haven’t previously reviewed.
“The Happening” (2008)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo
That Shyamalan fails to mold a genre classic out of this premise doesn’t make “The Happening” less interesting to talk about. As his screenplay attempts to have it both ways (saying nature’s odd events can’t be explained, and boldly stating that the Earth is fighting back against us pesky humans), he accidentally previews human behaviors of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Television news maps show where “the events” are happening in the Northeast, and people scramble to get out of the area. People try to avoid other people, and stick to small groups. They try to get indoors, and stay there. Everyone worries about when and where the next outbreak will happen.
Then again, it also shows that there’s reason to be scared. People really are killing themselves, seemingly out of nowhere. Television news isn’t the lone source of spreading fear; cellphone video has begun to accomplish that as well.
Portrait of panic
“The Happening” is seen by many as unintentionally funny because of its serious tone, but it does openly make fun of crisis panic at times. Two women watch the news, knitting, while wearing military-style gas masks.
The film goes over-the-top with some suicides to the point where we wonder if it’s a dark comedy – like when a man lays down in front of a lawnmower. Then we hold on Elliot’s (Mark Wahlberg) horrified expression.
The scene where survivalist types in a shuttered house shoot two members of the group who aren’t main characters is clunky by Shyamalan standards. To argue this almost self-parodic scene is making a statement – maybe about paranoia that people will be paranoid – is a step too far into apologia.
As for Mrs. Jones (Betty Buckley), I think Shyamalan was fascinated by the horror trope of people acting in non-standard ways for no apparent reason, and he’d delve into that wholesale in “The Visit.” Earlier in the story, the hot-dog-loving couple tiptoes into an attempt at this “trust no one” mood.
Mildest marriage strife ever
Speaking of strange performances, I’m not sure if Zooey Deschanel’s is bad or if she’s doing exactly what the director wants as Alma, the introverted wife of Elliot. As per Alma’s character, she doesn’t show emotions. A Zooey Deschanel who doesn’t smile or act quirky is just sad in a flat way — which is the point, but still.
“The Happening” relies on mild marriage strife (Alma had dessert with a male coworker, and Elliot quickly gets over it) in order to achieve a cinematic finale when the wider narrative isn’t cinematic. The resolution is essentially that the breeze stops blowing. And it’s not a surprise, as high school science teacher Elliot had foreshadowed this outcome earlier.
Through Alma and 8-year-old Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), the film says something about shyness and enochlophobia, in addition to its commentaries on climate change and inexplicable natural events.
But many times when Elliot speaks, he’s unloading Shyalaman’s research about odd natural events. The whole film plays like his struggle to dramatize something that’s inherently mundane: Nature is killing off humans, but slowly and sporadically, in ways we don’t fully understand. Michael Crichton and other elite writers can pull off this trick in novels, but it’s much harder to do in film.
For all its flaws, I don’t loathe “The Happening.” It creates a vibe of tension out of rustling grasses, and it’s a valid snapshot of the various ways humans behave in a crisis. Watching it through a post-pandemic lens, it’s on point in more ways than we realized in 2008.