The Happening (2008)

A strange, horrible and unprecedented crisis begins in Central Park. A high school science teacher, his wife and a young girl do what they can to survive it.

Director:

M. Night Shyamalan

Writer:

M. Night Shyamalan

Stars:

Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo

1 win & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Wahlberg	...	Elliot Moore
Zooey Deschanel	...	Alma Moore
John Leguizamo	...	Julian
Ashlyn Sanchez	...	Jess
Betty Buckley	...	Mrs. Jones
Spencer Breslin	...	Josh
Robert Bailey Jr.	...	Jared
Frank Collison	...	Nursery Owner
Jeremy Strong	...	Private Auster
Alan Ruck	...	Principal
Victoria Clark	...	Nursery Owner's Wife
M. Night Shyamalan	...	Joey (voice)
Alison Folland	...	Woman Reading on Bench with Hair Pin
Kristen Connolly	...	Woman Reading on Bench
Cornell Womack	...	Construction Foreman

Storyline

Elliot Moore is a high school science teacher who quizzes his class one day about an article in the New York Times. It's about the sudden, mysterious disappearance of bees. Yet again Nature is doing something inexplicable, and whatever science has to say about it will be, in the end, only a theory. Scientists will bring out more theories, but no explanations, when a more urgent dilemma hits the planet. It begins in Central Park. Suddenly and inexplicably, the behavior of everyone in the park changes in a most bizarre and horrible way. Soon, the strange behavior spreads throughout the city and beyond. Elliot, his wife, Alma, and Jess, the young daughter of a friend, will only have theories to guide them where to run and where to hide. But theories may not be enough.

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Plot Keywords:

park | school | teacher | crisis | bee | 

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Taglines:

We've Sensed It. We've Seen The Signs. Now... It's Happening.

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Genres:

Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violent and disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [United States] Official site

Country:

USA India France

Language:

English French

Release Date:

13 June 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Green Planet

Filming Locations:

100 W 18th St, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$48,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,632,055 (UK) (13 June 2008)

Gross:

$64,505,912 (USA) (12 September 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, UTV Motion Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to director M. Night Shyamalan, 85% of this movie takes place outside.

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Goofs

When Mrs. Jones bangs her head on the outside of the exterior wall, we see a picture frame bounce around as her head thumps the wall. This is impossible because that wall is stone - approximately 16 to 18 inches thick. The percussion of a human head striking on the exterior cannot transmit to the interior.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Woman Reading on Bench with Hair Pin: I forgot where I am.
Woman Reading on Bench: You're at the place where the killers meet to decide what to do with the crippled girl.

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Crazy Credits

Moving clouds form the backdrop for the opening and closing credits. On the end credits, they've become stormclouds with lightning. On the end credits, M. Night Shyamalan's name vanishes.

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Connections

Featured in Vanishing of the Bees (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Piano Concerto No. 21 In C K467 ('Elvira Madigan': 2.Andante)"
(1785)
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Radu Lupu, Uri Segal and English Chamber Orchestra (as The English Chamber Orchestra)
Courtesy of Decca Music Group Ltd.
Under License from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Not brilliant but it is worth a look

When I first saw the trailer for 'The Happening', I was quite excited at the prospect of another film by M. Night Shyamalan. After all, I enjoyed all his previous films, save 'Lady in the Lake', and was sure he would deliver another breath-taking blockbuster. Sadly, I was wrong and while the film was not a turkey, it was not of the excellence I had expected.

The film sees some sort of mysterious ecological event leading to people committing mass suicide, the phenomenon spreading first from large cities then to smaller towns until it is clear a huge chunk of the East Coast is affected. At first, it is assumed to be a terrorist attack but, as more and more people are spontaneously kill themselves, it is clear the cause may be something else entirely...

One of the problems with the film was the quality of the acting and the characters themselves. Mark Wahlberg stars as Elliot, the science teacher who is our main protagonist, and he does flounder in many scenes as if he forgets he's playing an intelligent but ordinary everyday guy, not a gung-ho military hero who is cool in all situations. He could have injected more emotion into his performance. Zooey Deschanel plays Elliot's girlfriend Alma and she too fails to make the audience care for her with the way she depicts the character to be some sort of an escapee from a teeny-booper romance flick. To be fair, it is not entirely Deschanel's fault as Alma is a weak, self-centred character with the emotional capacity of a young adolescent (for example, she puts Elliot and a child at risk a couple of times with her stupid decisions and, at the start, when it's clear people are dying, she is in a huff because Elliot and his friend 'hurt' her feelings).

When it comes to the actual storyline, the plot does start off intriguingly and there are many chilling moments when we see people are coolly committing suicide like mindless zombies. However, the finale doesn't deliver what the build-up promised. There are no real explanations or solid end result. In many ways, this film is similar to Shyamalan's previous project 'Signs' both in terms of a mass disaster and no real end resolution to the events but 'Signs' worked better because the characters were more effectively portrayed and their personal storyline was enough of a finale to compensate. This is not the case in 'The Happening' where the storyline fizzles out.

Overall, this is by no means a terrible film. It is enjoyable and fits nicely into the apocalyptic genre but 'Signs' has done this sort of idea before and did it better. That said, there was not only moments that had me on the edge of my seat but also lines which were quite humorous. And certainly, it does make one think about the state of the planet in regards to whether humanity does have it coming to them and how we would cope in such an event. It is worth a look, especially in a week when the other premiere is 'The Hulk, a film aimed at keeping twelve-year-olds' entertained.