"I
talk to the trees"
The
Happening deals with yet another apocalyptic scenario, where
a strange airborne virus spreads rapidly through the north-eastern
USA, wreaking havoc by causing people to commit suicide at the
drop of a hat. Before this happens, all the honey bees disappear,
supposedly an ominous sign. At first it’s thought to be
terrorists, and later some extraordinary attack by plants spreading
miasmic vapours.
M. Night Shyamalan the director did well with his
clever Sixth Sense, though his output’s been rather
uneven since then, including Signs (another sci-fi excursion)
and the curious The Village. Shyamalan’s usual
trademark is a twist in the plot at the end. There’s not
any great surprise in his latest, after two-thirds of the picture
it doesn’t go anywhere, just rests on its laurels. However
the opening is most effective, giving chills and thrills as people
self-destruct in a most unappealing manner. One of the problems
though is that similar situations have been much covered in other
world-ending sagas, as recently as Steven King’s The
Mist.
Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), a teacher at a Philadelphia
college, races with his wife Alma (Zooey Deschenel) – the
original bright eyed girl – to escape the creeping virus
that is 100% lethal. Alma is a bit off Elliot at the moment, but
nevertheless they stick together and catch a train which suddenly
stops at the remote town of Filbert. The train’s staff have
lost all contact with civilization.
By this time, much of the continent has been effected
by the abominable plague. They proceed further by car and then
on foot along with a little girl Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) aided by
a weirdo nurseryman with a wandering eye (Frank Collison). Elliot
and friends head for the Pennsylvanian farmlands where they hope
they’ll be safe. Yet this horrible killer virus just can’t
be stopped or outdistanced – nowhere is secure.
Elliot
decides the toxic vapour is the result of plants attacking rather
than terrorists. Things go balmy when he ends up chatting to a
pot plant; unfortunately it turns out to be plastic. For some
obscure reason, survival is best in small groups. So this little
party are out in the country visiting houses looking for food,
and being turned away after an altercation with one seriously
unfriendly farmer who reduces their number using unnecessary force.
The survivors arrive at a lonely cottage where the
owner Mrs. Jones (Betty Buckley) makes Miss Haversham look a cuddly
old dear. She takes on homicidal aspect before bashing her head
into windows and enjoying glass in one eye. Then guess what? -
we’re still waiting for the big twist, but Mr. Shyamalan
seems to have run out. (He actually appears in the film as Joey.)
Mark Wahlberg (Shooter) does what he can
to make Elliot a convincing character, not easy when Zooey Deschanel
(The Assassination of Jesse James) opens her big blue
eyes and looks totally bewildered by the risible script. Then
there’s the talking to the tree bit...
No, what wins are the atmospheric set pieces, the
opening in Central Park, the guys leaping into space off a building,
the traffic cop shooting himself (with the revolver being passed
along the line of would-be suicides), and bodies hanging from
trees a la Nazi Germany. In addition, there are grizzly scenes
in the lions' den and later with a lawnmower. These sequences
are charged with ominous menace and genuine shocks. Alas while
the film begins with innovative suspense and thrills it losses
panache, ending as a predictably routine horror flick.
John Bale
