Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Fox Home Entertainment – 90 minutes – 2008 – Rated R – 1080p Widescreen 1.85:1 – DTS HD 5.1 Lossless Audio

 Director M. Night Shyamalan was on top of the world when he did The Sixth Sense back in 1999, but almost a decade later he has had his hits, such as Signs, and a various misses, such as The Lady in the Water. When you hear that Shyamalan is coming out with a new film, you just don’t know what to think anymore. It’s like gambling, you may walk away rich or broke. This is the case with his latest film, The Happening, available on Blu-ray from Fox Home Entertainment. A film that may have looked good on paper, but somewhere in the execution, something went really, really wrong.

THE MOVIE

Now the film does start out pretty creepy in that Japanese horror flick kind of way, with people in various cities suddenly killing themselves; jumping from buildings, shooting themselves, and even walking in lion cages at the zoo to be torn to bits. Chaos erupts as everyone’s first thought is that terrorists have hit the USA with some sort of bio weapon that corrupts the brain. Groups of people in Philadelphia have mapped out locations where there have been no incidents and attempt to escape. In this group is a schoolteacher, Elliot Moore (Mark Walhlberg), and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel), who are joined by another teacher played by John Leguizamo and his little daughter. On their race to get away from the corrupted area, they realize that it’s not terrorists, so it has to be something else, something organic.

After the first fifteen minutes, nothing else holds your attention, because none of the characters are fleshed out and the situation becomes more and more ridiculous like a rejected episode of The Twilight Zone. Mark Walhlberg was completely miscasts for this film, because he literally looks like he’s reading lines off a card with no emotions whatsoever. For those who have not seen the film, I won’t give away any details, as silly as they are, but if more care was taken this could have been a very intense movie.

Is the payoff twists in the finale going to be worth the 90 minutes it takes to watch this movie…Nope. Will you feel like you wasted your time by the time the ending credits roll…Maybe. Shyamalan is desperately trying to be the Alfred Hitchcock of this generation, but instead of being clever, he’s pretentious. Films like the Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and even Signs displayed that he can make a film that will hold your attention and be entertaining, but it’s time for him to try something different, maybe a comedy or an action film. Just something that will not have a shallow conclusion as he past few films have.

Anyone interested in seeing this Blu-ray should definitely rent it first, because this is in no way Shyamalan’s best work. Besides an interesting set-up, the film quickly dissolves into something unrecognizable. Shyamalan has a following, because The Happening, while not a box office mega hit, did make it’s money back, before it died a quick death. Shyamalan still has some good films inside of him, but it may be a while before we see them. The Happening should have been called ‘What Happened?’

VIDEO

The movie is lame but it looks great in high definition with a full 1080p image and a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Skin tones look natural and colors, though purposely muted in some scenes, look good, highlighting the mood that is being set. There are moments when grain pops in, but overall the image quality is satisfying. Just for kicks I looked at a few scenes of the film on a standard DVD, and the difference in quality is easily noticeable.

AUDIO

With a DTS HD Master 5.1 audio mix, The Happening sounds good with crystal clear dialogue, and in those moments that Shyamalan is going for his scare tactics, your speakers will rattle. Scenes where characters just look out into open fields and hear the wind beaming across the terrain are very effective, as is the opening scenes where the mass suicides take place and chaos erupts in the city. If only more care went into the script as it did for the image and sound this would have been a better experience.

EXTRAS

The Happening offers a basic package of bonus features, but Shyamalan never does audio commentary tracks so don’t expect him to do one for this flick. All the mini docs are in HD and for anyone interested there is a Digital Copy of the film you can download.

‘Visions of The Happening,’ ‘The Hard Cut,’ I Hear Whispering,’ ‘Day for a Night,’ and ‘Elements of a Scene’ are five min-documentaries running about 45 minutes total, that includes interviews from the cast and crew, how the movie was conceived and some behind the scenes footage.

There are fifteen minutes of deleted scenes with an introduction by Shyamalan, but after seeing them you quickly understand why they were dumped on the cutting room floor.

There are also some miscellaneous items such as a pop-up trivia track, two behind the scenes featurettes ‘Forces Unseen’ and ‘Train Shooting,’ as well as the D-Box Motion Control that no one uses.

A Digital Copy is attached, but after seeing this once you may not want to bother again.

BOTTOM LINE

Someone needs to have a serious talk with Shyamalan before he begins his next film to inform him he’s not connected with audiences anymore. The Happening has an interesting premise, but watching anything beyond the first fifteen minutes may cause unintentional laughs. This Blu-ray offers good picture and sound quality, but other than that it’s nothing more than a rental.

SCORES (out of 5):

The Movie: 2.0

Video: 4.0

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 2.5

Bottom Line: 2.5