It may appear that M. Night Shyamalan is intent on seeing his career sink without a trace, but did he really have to try and drag down Mark Wahlberg with him. Now I'm a big fan of Marky Mark, despite a number of flops he has shown in the likes of 'The Departed' and 'Boogie Nights' his excellent acting capabilities, yet I can't help but worry for the direction of his career. 'The Happening' is a monumental flop, not only is it badly scripted, badly acted, possesses a terrible title and is frankly directionless but it's sanctimonious central message is too tough to swallow. The entirety of Shyamalan's wafer-thin plot simply concerns mother nature turning on us humans and releasing a toxin that makes us kill ourselves. This - as it is practically rammed down the audiences throats - is a warning that if we don't treat the environment better then it will come back to haunt us. It's less of a lesson and more of a stern telling off. Don't worry if you think I've given away the whodunnit facet of the story just now because it's abundantly clear from the word go, and don't hold out any hope for a trademark Shyamalan twist because there's none forthcoming. Perhaps I was unfair on the writer/director before as admittedly he has made some great movies in the past, but recently things seem to be going from bad to worse. 'The Happening' has somewhat of a B-movie feel and it creates all the tension of the worst B-movies. The script that has a problem with stating the bleeding obvious facilitates the limp atmosphere, Wahlberg's "oh no" speaks volumes for how the rest of us are feeling. Both Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel come off very badly, but it's hard to judge them too harshly considering what they are given to work with. It's hard to put into words how truly shocking this is, but thankfully it's bad enough that at least it may raise a few unintentional laughs.
Verdict: It may be happening, but you're going to wish it hadn't.
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