The slight premise, coupled with some very bad performances by the cast as well as a screenplay filled with ham-fisted dialogue makes for a film that's not scary and borders on being ridiculous at times.
1 Comment
06/18/08
The Happening (2008)
18
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:169
Fresh:31
Rotten:138
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: The Happening begins with promise, but unfortunately descends into an incoherent and unconvincing trifle.
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $64,384,941
Synopsis: M. Night Shyamalan directs this thriller about a science teacher (Mark Wahlberg) who tries to escape with his wife and friend's daughter after an apocalyptic event. THE HAPPENING costars Zooey... [More]
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Reviews for The Happening
41 - 60 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
For a movie with the potential for so much global-warming electricity, it’s disappointingly low on voltage.
06/18/08
What you end up with is a cross between Roland Emmerich's The Day After Tomorrow and Shyamalan's Signs.
06/18/08
Só podemos deduzir que o próximo projeto de Shyamalan será melhor do que este Fim dos Tempos porque sabemos que ele (ou qualquer outro cineasta) dificilmente seria capaz de fazer algo pior.
06/17/08
Rather than [the R-rating]being an opportunity-opening device for writer/director Shyamalan to pull out of his toolbox, the graphic violence that got him that rating is more like a monkey wrench.
06/17/08
Nothing 'happening' here
06/17/08
I did find myself caught up in Shyamalan's apocalyptic world for a time -- before some really bad dialogue or acting would shake me out of it.
06/16/08
A monster movie desperately seeking a monster, M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening doesn't make sense, much less The Sixth Sense.
06/16/08
It's engrossing one minute and stupefying the next, off and on, off and on, for ninety minutes.
06/16/08
For Night, The Happening is a little blip on his career flatline. The guy just may pull through.
06/16/08
The true disaster on display in The Happening is Shyamalan's career hitting rock bottom.
06/16/08
It almost dares you to roll your eyes or laugh at certain scenes that are supposed to be deadly serious. But, you know what, I appreciated this creatively offbeat, daring sci-fi mind-trip.
06/16/08
Top CriticAll that’s missing is the head alien of Plan 9 From Outer Space dropping by to lecture the populace for disrespecting nature: 'Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!'
06/16/08
'There are forces at work beyond our understanding,' says Wahlberg. 'Especially beyond my understanding, if you include virtually every force at work.'
06/16/08
Maybe Shyamalan didn't mean for The Happening to be exciting and dramatic: perhaps the writer-director intended the film to be an exercise in sucking all the life and emotion out of fictional characters.
06/16/08
A numbing polemical morality tale in dreary doomsday thriller clothing, this dull downer for all its mass panic attack high alert mode, may be more effective in unintentionally boring people to death.
06/16/08
...a minor, not quite successful film, but for M. Night Shyamalan - whose career has been circling the drain for some time now - it's a step back from the abyss.
06/16/08
Shyamalan's direction always seems so serious that it's easy to imagine he may be screwing up when he draws laughs, but I'd lay down money that many of these were deliberate.
06/15/08
If Shyamalan wanted to commit career suicide he couldn't have chosen a more likely vehicle than this laugh inducing 'thriller.'
06/15/08
What's more annoying than when a mediocre movie constantly males allusions to much better pictures? I know, it's when you wait an hour and a half for a solution this pathetic.
06/15/08
Latest News for The Happening
January 21, 2009:
Razzies Name 2008's Worst Movie Nominees
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year's winners will... More...
July 06, 2008:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Hancock shows some attitude at the box office
Despite a critical panning, Hancock scores at the Box Office. More...
June 19, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Get Smart Spies Top Spot
Two big star-driven studio comedies invade North American multiplexes on Friday giving audiences even more choices during what has been a scorching hot June box office. Steve... More...
June 16, 2008:
WNYC RADIO: A numbing polemical morality tale in dreary doomsday thriller clothing, this dull downer for all its mass panic attack high alert mode, may be more effective in unintentionally boring people to death. 
More...
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