The happening
Invisible threat
© 20th Century FoxFirst they talk confused things, then they lose their orientation and finally they kill themselves. Everything within seconds. It starts in New York Central Park. As if controlled by someone else's hand begins an eerie mass extinction. With the soft wind comes death. A few blocks away, the horror continues: Construction workers rush from the skyscrapers of Manhattan to the streets. The suicide epidemic takes its course. High school teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) from Philadelphia 160 km away learns of the mysterious events during the lesson. All students are sent home until the danger is over. Nobody knows what the danger is. What at first seems like a terrorist attack later eludes any logical explanation. Elliot flies with his friend and colleague Julian (John Leguizamo), his daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel). The destination, a small village where Julian's mother lives, never reaches her. Psycho-death attacks far too fast and almost completely eradicates part of the Northeastern United States.
Lack of "aha effect"
© 20th Century FoxThe king of the mystery thriller with the extraordinary and unpronounceable name M. Night Shyamalan, does in the film once again what he does best: fear. After successes like "The Sixth Sense", "The Unbreakable" or "The Village" we already know that he can. The quality of his successful debut "The Sixth Sense", which earned him six Oscar nominations, he came so far, however, not up. Even "The Happening" does not do it. The so-called "Killer Twist", a surprising twist in the plot, which often gave Shyamalan's films the big aha effect in the finale and led to the success of the films, is missing here. On the contrary, all questions remain open. The Indian-born filmmaker perfidiously stirs up current fears about environmental and climate catastrophes without providing a solution. In short: the complete loss of control. Man seems to be the evil one who finally gets paid back by nature, what he did to him for millennia.
Plastic horror
© 20th Century FoxLike the plot, unfortunately, the characters remain on the surface. Elliot is expected to become the hero of the story. He as a scientist seems to be able to solve every problem by using variables. But all his explanations fail. The broken relationship with his wife Alma remains completely unclear. And so comes the "happy ever after" end (at least as far as the relationship of the two concerned) too American therefore. In other roles as well, the characters' functions remain unclear and unreliable. It can not be ignored that Shyalaman's film's atmosphere is more important than profound dialogues or human relationships. He manages to depict horror and menacing powerlessness. In the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock, who is considered his great role model.
Conclusion
Although the movie can not live up to expectations, it is exciting and will delight friends of mystery and science-fiction with ninety minutes of high tension and gorgeous shocking moments. What the movie also has to offer are some fun moments. In part, one wonders, however, whether they were even planned by the director as "jokes".
