The Happening - How can one fail so hard? (Long Read- SPOILERS)

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II_Seraphim_II

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#1 II_Seraphim_II
Member since 2007 • 20534 Posts

The Happening.....oh boy. M.Knight surely dropped the ball with this one. Personally I thought the premise, was pretty unique. Instead of the usual "Oh noes!!! New Ice-Age" or "ZOMG!!! Floods" scenario we get from these "Green-Movies" Shalamans idea was that the plants were taking a more direct approach and effectively eliminating people.

Well, thats where all my praises for the movie end. WTF was the studio that allowed this crap to be made thinking!? Now first of all, the idea was pretty cool....IN THEORY. Im sorry, but watching wind blow over a field of grass is NOT ominous. In fact its the opposite, its pacific. There are many good movies where the "offender" is never seen, but in this movie, it was just ridiculously boring. There was no visual stimulae. Maybe if they showed some pollen it would have been better. That way we can see the encroaching doom and get the ominous feeling of suspense, but nope...all we had was a bunch of grown ups playing make belief. :|

Now lets table that for a bit. Lets assume that the above problems were solved this movies till has one more glaring...no glaring is being too kind, "blunt-force" brutally obvious flaw...that sounds more approriate. This movie has the most ridiculous lines in any movie I have ever seen in my life. Whilst watching The Happening, I couldnt help but feel that this movie was made by an autistic man trying to emulate normal human relationships. At first I thought it was Mark Walbergs acting, then I realized that even if it was Denzel, this movie still would have failed! The lines were just ridiculous!I dont even understand how such a script could pass. Alot of the characters' reactions were baffling. Many times I was flabbergasted by the way people chose to deal withthe impending doom. and then wtf was up with the whole "you had dinner with this guy?" aspect of the movie? It was so pointless. Walberg and whats-her-name's (WHN) relationship was so trivial to the movie. And the lack of character development made it feel so out of place. And some of the lines in the movie were borderline criminal:

"Dont take my daughter's hand unless you mean it" - Walberg's friend says it -It was so out of character...it was like he turned all evil and mean for one second. I understand that he was being serious but it came out downright hostile.

When Walberg makes a joke about talking to another woman, or sumthing like that whilst they are walking in a field of grass....wtf was the point? it served no purpose and was just out of the blue!

When the mathematician guy tells the girl to do math problems...ok, wtf...i understand the whole "distraction" tactic, but it felt so tacked on and broken...man it just felt out of place.

And did i mention the opening scene? that has to be one of the worst opening scenes in the history of movies. Im not talking about the part where people are jumping off the building, that looked pretty cool, i mean the part with the 2 girls sitting on the bench. Im still not sure if it was bad acting or bad writing or a combo of both, but that scene was painful to watch.

Basically, in conclusion, M.Knight needs to take a break from movies and maybe make some books...atleast until the crack he's smoking wears off. This was probably the worst movie i have seen in the past 5 years...heck I have seen pr0ns with better acting/story/character development than this movie.

What are your thoughts on the movie...im actually curious if any of you liked it :P

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deactivated-5901ac91d8e33

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#2 deactivated-5901ac91d8e33
Member since 2004 • 17092 Posts
I wasn't expecting much...and I was still dissapointed.
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batboy113

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#3 batboy113
Member since 2007 • 1204 Posts
I liked it. Yes, i was on the edge of my seat. And to make the audience terrified of the wind. That was genius.
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TristanShand

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#4 TristanShand
Member since 2008 • 1400 Posts
When it comes to storytelling I hate things that try to be too cryptic and arty. As Ken Levine the writer of Bioshock once said 'If you stop Indiana Jones at anytime during Raiders of the lost Arc and ask him ''What you doing?'' he would reply ''Looking for the lost arc''.
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Mitjastiskovski

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#5 Mitjastiskovski
Member since 2004 • 327 Posts

IMO the movie was average at best. Nothing really happened, all they did the whole movie was run and panic. The first 30min were good since you didn't really know what was causing the people to kill them self but then it was meh.

5/10 for me

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ShadowofTulkas

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#6 ShadowofTulkas
Member since 2007 • 1811 Posts

I haven't watched it yet, and by the tone in which you describe it, I doubt I ever will. Shalaman's movies never make sense to me at all. :S Well, except for "Signs" that was alright.

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DJ_Novakain

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#7 DJ_Novakain
Member since 2008 • 2147 Posts
Havent seen it, but maybe I should skip it...
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II_Seraphim_II

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#8 II_Seraphim_II
Member since 2007 • 20534 Posts

I haven't watched it yet, and by the tone in which you describe it, I doubt I ever will. Shalaman's movies never make sense to me at all. :S Well, except for "Signs" that was alright.

ShadowofTulkas

Sixth Sense and Signs. Personally i thought Signs was his best and most cleverly thoughtout movie, but most people probably prefer Sixth Sense. Unbreakable was OK too.

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Blitz_Nemesis

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#9 Blitz_Nemesis
Member since 2005 • 8042 Posts
i have it at home and was gonna watch it but now i guess ill just skip it.
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ShadowofTulkas

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#10 ShadowofTulkas
Member since 2007 • 1811 Posts
[QUOTE="ShadowofTulkas"]

I haven't watched it yet, and by the tone in which you describe it, I doubt I ever will. Shalaman's movies never make sense to me at all. :S Well, except for "Signs" that was alright.

II_Seraphim_II

Sixth Sense and Signs. Personally i thought Signs was his best and most cleverly thoughtout movie, but most people probably prefer Sixth Sense. Unbreakable was OK too.

Yea I agree. Some of them are OK like you mentioned.

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batboy113

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#11 batboy113
Member since 2007 • 1204 Posts
Don't skip it. Its not as bad as hes made it out to be.
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NicotineKid

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#12 NicotineKid
Member since 2006 • 1475 Posts

The movie was boring, and the opening scene just made me wonder why I watched it in the first place.