Having peaked with his very first film, M Night Shyamalanayananan has been on a downward spiral ever since and the quality of his films have followed the pattern of a tennis ball dropped from a height.
After the brilliant The Sixth Sense, he followed up with the eminently watchable Unbreakable and Signs (although, to be honest, I'm probably overstating the point with Unbreakable...), the predictable The Village before completely flatlining with the excremental The Lady In The Water. And with that, perhaps the worst film ever made, I thought his career was over.
But now he's back. Back in black with his latest concept piece.
The Happening is the story of an arboreal virus that suddenly causes humans to forget their brains. Just imagine the sort of bug extreme sports fans suffer from then doub- no, actually... stop there.
It is an engaging film and has some disturbing scenes that'll stay with you for a while. However, there are some pretty major flaws: the dialogue and character development are piss-poor and it doesn't really have a story arc as such.
That said, The Happening is a return to form because M Night Shyalalalaman, on the balance of his work, is simply a half-decent filmmaker. The Sixth Sense was a fluke; The Lady In The Water was an aberration. The Happening? Well, it's about his level.
The Happening: 6/10.
2008-07-16 @ 14:30