June 18, 2008
M. Night Shyamalan's Biggest Shocker Yet
M. Night Shyamalan has produced some of the absolute best suspense films of the last several years. His works are highly regarded for their atmosphere creepiness, quirkiness, and totally unexpected twists.
Now, with "The Happening" Shyamalan hits his viewers with what may be the most superbly crafted "GOTCHA!" of his career.
...a film that sucks ass.
Being familiar with the mans body of work I was utterly unprepared for this.
Thus another feather in the mans cap I suppose.
This is not to say that it is not a creepy film, at least at first...
There are some truly horrific moments, all the more terrifying for their matter of fact presentation. The film , however, doesn't really get out of a sort of one trick pony rut except to preach about the irredeemable ills of industrialized civilization, and, with not a hint of irony, expound on the inherently evil nature of rural people (who as everyone in Hollywood knows are crazy, murderous, or both). There is also provided as comic relief, a befuddled military enlisted man who seems to be based on Gomer Pyle and a crazy, hot-dog-munching hippie couple who are, of course, a fountain of insight.
All of this is paint by the numbers situation normal for Hollywood...which given that this is a Shyamalan picture is really surprising...so you get 2, count them 2 utter surprises in one film!
The above list of Brickmuppet pet peeves would certainly be forgivable if the film were satisfying PC Greenpeace claptrap, but the last 20-30 minutes of the film tends to rather amble along and then just sort of ends....most unsatisfingly I might add... and that is simply not forgiveable.
I could have seen the Hulk...
1.5 Bricks
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Now, with "The Happening" Shyamalan hits his viewers with what may be the most superbly crafted "GOTCHA!" of his career.
...a film that sucks ass.
Being familiar with the mans body of work I was utterly unprepared for this.
Thus another feather in the mans cap I suppose.
This is not to say that it is not a creepy film, at least at first...
There are some truly horrific moments, all the more terrifying for their matter of fact presentation. The film , however, doesn't really get out of a sort of one trick pony rut except to preach about the irredeemable ills of industrialized civilization, and, with not a hint of irony, expound on the inherently evil nature of rural people (who as everyone in Hollywood knows are crazy, murderous, or both). There is also provided as comic relief, a befuddled military enlisted man who seems to be based on Gomer Pyle and a crazy, hot-dog-munching hippie couple who are, of course, a fountain of insight.
All of this is paint by the numbers situation normal for Hollywood...which given that this is a Shyamalan picture is really surprising...so you get 2, count them 2 utter surprises in one film!
The above list of Brickmuppet pet peeves would certainly be forgivable if the film were satisfying PC Greenpeace claptrap, but the last 20-30 minutes of the film tends to rather amble along and then just sort of ends....most unsatisfingly I might add... and that is simply not forgiveable.
I could have seen the Hulk...
1.5 Bricks
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
04:36 PM
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1
Shyamalan's films show a steady progression downhill, with increasing speed.
Sixth Sense: Great film.
Unbreakable: Great, but not quite as good.
Signs: Had some good scary moments, but a legion of flaws.
The Village: Had a few creepy moments, but mostly dull, with a twist you could see coming a mile away.
Lady in the Water: Sucked.
The Happening: haven't seen it, no plans to.
Unfortunately, I believe his next project is a series of three "Avatar: the Last Airbender" movies. Hope he doesn't screw them up.
Sixth Sense: Great film.
Unbreakable: Great, but not quite as good.
Signs: Had some good scary moments, but a legion of flaws.
The Village: Had a few creepy moments, but mostly dull, with a twist you could see coming a mile away.
Lady in the Water: Sucked.
The Happening: haven't seen it, no plans to.
Unfortunately, I believe his next project is a series of three "Avatar: the Last Airbender" movies. Hope he doesn't screw them up.
Posted by: EvilOtto at Wed Jun 18 21:11:32 2008 (tYvh+)
2
Even the commercials look bad. The jeep-into-tree scene just looks horribly fake. How hard is it to run a jeep into a tree and make it look real?
Posted by: Wonderduck at Wed Jun 18 23:22:33 2008 (gwUM9)
3
The jeep into tree sequence was quite powerful in the film, perhaps benefiting from following the
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Jun 19 16:33:54 2008 (V5zw/)
Posted by: Elliott at Fri Jun 20 09:56:18 2008 (LnTtG)
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