Jun
12
This is Not “Happening”
Filed Under Blockbusters, Movies
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of M. Night Shyamalan. The weekend “The Sixth Sense” came out, I saw “Mystery Men” instead. When I finally did get around to seeing it, by the midpoint I’d guessed the absurd twist ending that put asses in seats over and over again to the tune of a $200+ box office gross. I didn’t guess the ending to “Unbreakable,” however. Shyamalan — or “Night” as he’s spookily referred to — tried a different approach with his follow-up to “The Sixth Sense:” throwing some text on the screen that tells the audience what happens to the characters after the movie. I almost liked “Signs” until I realized at the climax that the alien invaders would’ve conquered Earth had they been wearing ponchos. “The Village” has an ending so stupid — the Luddites don’t live in the past, but the present, within the walls of a nature preserve — it was spoiled on the Internet months and months before the film’s release in some sort of attempt at an intervention to get Night to dispense with the gimmickry. It didn’t work. I skipped “Lady in the Water” altogether, as did many of Night’s apologists; it was his first high-profile bomb.
Night’s latest film, “The Happening,” opens on Friday (the 13th!). The buzz is ungood. The R-rating will work against its box office haul. Wussies who are taken in by Night’s earlier, safer, more PG-13 thrills and chills aren’t gorehounds. I saw a guy get eaten by a lawnmower in the red-banded trailer for the film — something that’s normally a strong selling point for me, but not Night’s target audience. That said, I don’t think “The Happening” will win him any new fans, either. Not only do the reviews make it sound like this is his worst movie to date (at least he keeps topping himself), but audiences are finally starting to realize what I’ve known for some time now: his movies were never very good to begin with.
Night’s like that guy from your art or photography or creative writing class in high school, the one who did something that everyone seemed to really like, then kept doing the same thing more or less over and over again with diminishing returns. I used to be that guy, too.
I’m astounded that his next project in the pipeline is a film adaptation of Nickelodeon’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” I’ll bet he’s glad that he’ll avoid movie jail after “The Happening” comes in at 4th place in its opening weekend because he’s already locked in to something that’s been greenlit — something as far removed from his typical output as he could get, short of something of quality. But can Night pull off something new? He’s not all that great at doing the same thing ad nauseum. To paraphrase “The Usual Suspects,” a film with a believable and organic twist ending, the greatest trick M. Night Shyamalan ever pulled off was convincing the world he was a “Happening” filmmaker.
-Brad Lohan
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4 Responses to “This is Not “Happening””
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You had me until the punny ending.
I thought it was very punny.
Still better than the ending of “Signs”.
Any given episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” has a better ending than “Signs”. Sadly.