The Happening | 
 enlarge | Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Actors: Mark Wahlberg, John Leguizamo, Betty Buckley
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $4.95
You Save: $25.04 (83%)
New (54) Used (61) Collectible (1) from $4.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  156 reviews
Sales Rank: 793
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 91
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: FOXD2253289D
UPC: 024543532897
EAN: 0024543532897
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Former rental with center label and minimal rotations. Boxart in great shape also.
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Product Description
A paranoid thriller about a family on the run from a natural crisis that presents a large-scale threat to humanity. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/07/2008 Starring: Mark Wahlberg John Leguizamo Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R
Amazon.com
You'd expect the end of the world to be no day in the park, but in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, a day in the park is where the end begins. One otherwise peaceful summer morning, New Yorkers strolling in Central Park come to a halt in unison, then begin killing themselves by any means at hand. At a high-rise construction site a few blocks over, it's raining bodies as workers step off girders into space. And all the while, the city is so quiet you can hear the gentle breeze in the trees. That breeze carries a neurotoxin, and what or who put it there (terrorists?) is a question raised periodically as the film unfolds. But the question that really matters is how and whether anybody in the Middle Atlantic states is going to stay alive. The Happening is Shyamalan's best film since The Sixth Sense, partly because he avoids the kind of egregious misjudgment that derailed The Village and Lady in the Water, but mostly because the whole thing has been structured and imagined to keep faith with the point of view of regular, unheroic folks confronted with a mammoth crisis. Focal characters are a Philadelphia high-school science teacher (Mark Wahlberg, excellent), his wife (Zooey Deschanel) and math-teacher colleague (John Leguizamo), and the latter's little girl (Ashlyn Sanchez). Instinct says get out of the cities and move west; most of the film takes place in the delicately picturesque Pennsylvania countryside, with menace hovering somewhere in the haze. There are no special effects (apart from a wind machine and some breakaway glass), but the movie manages to be deeply unsettling in the matter-of-factness of its storytelling. Especially effective is its feel for what we might call the surrealism of banality. One warning sign that someone has been infected by the neurotoxin is irrational or erratic speech and behavior, yet Shyamalan has a genius for dialogue that sounds normal and everyday as it's spoken, yet flies apart grenade-like a second later as its logic (or illogic) sinks in. Then there's Deschanel's eye-rolling dodginess about the messages some guy has been leaving on her cellphone. Or the fellow (Frank Collis) who addresses his greenhouse plants as though they were his children--has a stray toxic zephyr wafted his way, or is this just his idea of normal? --Richard T. Jameson
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Stills from The Happening (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 151 more reviews...
 Nature works in mysterious ways October 12, 2008
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
A short, but memorable, performance by John Leguizamo, as well as Betty Buckley, who perhaps has given the best performance of any actor in any of Shyamalan's movies.
One day in the Northeastern United States a mysterious toxin is released from plants affecting humans. Those affected are mysteriously instructed to kill others and then themselves. This story line is not all that unbelievable: entomologist Consuelo De Moraes has shown how the tobacco plant can release airborne chemicals triggered by a caterpillar's saliva to attract a parasitic wasp to kill the caterpillar.
True to the rules of scientific investigation as preached by Mark Wahlberg's character, who is a science teacher in a Philly high shcool, one of the variables in the story is the size of human groups that gets affected. So he experiments and observes. His interpretation of what happens makes for an exciting plot.
This is an exciting movie to watch and think.
It's Blowing in the WInd... October 12, 2008
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
The HappeningI saw "The Happening" in the theatre, because I see every new M. Night Shyamalan movie when it comes out. I've never been disappointed. I think "The Happening" is his best movie since "Signs", despite many reviews to the contrary. It has beautiful cinematography and sound that actually helps to move the story along and bits of Night's trademark wit, like apologizing to the plastic plant. He's talking about the abuse of the planet, here, and most people are too wrapped up in what they expect from entertainment to get it. It's about the planet fighting back, and what our helpness would be in the face of that. In that sense, it is very frightening.
Didn't Deserve the Panning October 7, 2008
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
The one- or two-star reviews really do surprise me. The writing and directing in this movie, as well as the acting, is quite strong. Shyamalan consistently makes five-star, 10/10 movies, though he stumbled a bit with 2006's "Lady in the Water," which wasn't as bad as the critics said it was, but wasn't nearly as good as his previous hits. I don't know if the critics are just biased against him because of his portrayal of movie critics in "Lady in the Water" or if he's just one of those guys that everyone loves to pick on, but it really says something when the most experienced critic--Roger Ebert--is the one critic to give the movie what it deserves: a good rating.
Seeing this movie is a visceral experience. The scenes of mass suicide--that were often spine-tingling but never felt gratuitous or SAW-like--tapped into base human fears about the environment turning on us and about society losing its order. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel give top performances as the main characters, a married couple dealing with some problems. They bring this couple to life with quirks and unusual yet effective performances, humanizing two characters that could have been the clichd arguing married couple with lesser actors and a lesser writer. The cinematography is astonishing in some parts and a bit off in others, but the sheer experimental nature of Shyamalan's direction leaves the audience visually on their toes.
What a lot of people found fault in was how "The Happening" didn't shy away from comedy or showing people who are less than normal. From the "hot dog guy," to the military man saying "Cheese and crackers," to the crazy old lady, the heroes of "The Happening" run into many colorful types. I can understand why this would throw people off, but I found this to be an attraction for more scathing reviews, which I think is silly. The crazy side-characters in this movie keep it from being boring. Because, in actuality, we do run into many, many normal people. In the world we live in, even the regular world, how could there no be people out there with more colorful quirks? In fact, the only scene in the entire movie that didn't work for me at all was when Wahlberg's character was repeating the scientific method to himself while trying to figure out what action to take. Everything else in the film is superbly done, especially the "coming together" near the end.
When I saw "Signs," M. Night Shyamalan pretty much had me hooked for life. I got a bit iffy after "Lady in the Water," but "The Happening" only served to convince me of what I've already known: Most critics, as a rule, are biased to the point of ridiculousness. "The Happening" is a great movie with high, high re-watchability that I will certainly be buying on DVD the day it comes out. I totally respect other's opinions when they say that they hate this film, but I just can't see it.
9/10
Frightening October 18, 2008
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
I'm tired of people putting this movie down. I love all his movies except maybe the mermaid one. The bottom line is M. Night challenges the audience and he is so original. Seriously, this is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise wasteland of poor movie making. Like Hitchcock, and Depalma, this guy has got it down. Also recommended: Signs, The Village,The Sixth Sense. Bless this guy for creating such great work. I would love to see him do a Twilight Zone episode.
Great Movie August 17, 2008
10 out of 18 found this review helpful
For any of those out there that want to be more than entertained by giant robots, Indy, or the other typical blockbuster movies, this movie is the one to watch! M Night brings a lot to this artistic film. It's not there to just be entertainment like typical blockbusters seen today, it's meant to make the audience think, interact with the characters, and to also be entertained (though it is not the main focus).
I do feel the acting was not the greatest at moments, but overall I loved the movie! I have believed something like this could occur in the world today, something catastrophic; so this movie played on a real sense of danger in today's world. Shymalan's direction was wonderful and the plot formulation was exciting.
I would suggest watching this movie to anyone I meet. I do, however, warn them that this is a serious movie and something to think about and appreciate as art, and not just entertainment. M. Night is an artist!
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