Product description

The Happening [DVD] [2008]

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Average customer rating: 2.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5039036038706
Label : 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Manufacturer : 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Publisher : 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release date : 2008-11-03
Title : The Happening [DVD] [2008]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : PAL
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 2008-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 86
Studio : 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Theatrical releaseDate : 2008

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
You'd expect the end of the world to be no day in the park, but in M. Night Shyamalan's iThe Happening/i, 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.p/p iThe Happening/i is Shyamalan's best film since iThe Sixth Sense/i, partly because he avoids the kind of egregious misjudgment that derailed iThe Village/i and iLady in the Water/i, 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? i--Richard T. Jameson, Amazon.com/i

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2009-06-27 rating:

Do not even bother !!!!
Let me start by saying i am a huge M. Night Shyamalan fan, i loved all his previous films, 6th sense, signs, unbreakable, this film however is one of the worst films i have ever seen. The acting, script and story is not even B movie standard, i would say Z.... Stay well clear of this poor attempt at a movie.. br /

review by: date: 2009-06-15 rating:

Almost as bad as lady in the lake
I wasn't impressed - the first few minutes seemed promising but then it descended into the ridiculous. Its difficult to take seriously demonic grasses rustling in the wind. I fell asleep a couple of times and wouldn't recommend it unless you have a grass fetish.

review by: date: 2009-06-03 rating:

Starts well, ends badly
As the film started I thought I was watching a Zombie movie but quickly realised how mistaken I was. br / br /The film opens up in typical , slick, Shyamalan fashion and sets the scene for what you expect to be a great movie. Once the reason behind "the happening" is revealed the film just seems to stumble along toward a feeble and unjustifiable end. br / br /This isn't the first Shyamalan film to come to an abrupt and somewhat measly finish (remember "The Signs"?) and the feeble ending just leaves you doubting the whole movie. br / br /In short it is a watchable movie, and has its moments. It isn't, however, a film you are going to come back to, time and time again. br /

review by: stipesdoppleganger date: 2009-05-29 rating:

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind
If we are to believe the premise of M Night Shymalans latest The Happening Mother Nature is extremely ticked off at us humans and wants us gone. Actually to be more specific Mother Nature in the form of plants and trees wants us gone( with a big helping blowy hand from the wind) and they are taking no prisoners, which lets be honest wouldn't really be feasible anyway. br /One day in parks all along the Eastern seaboard of America human beings suddenly stop what they are doing and then calmly take their own life's. Some jump off buildings , some hang themselves .Others deliberately crash their vehicles or slash their wrists and this being America with the right to bear arms and all many shoot themselves. br /At first everyone thinks terrorists but the logistics , and more pertinently the means of this seem beyond comprehension. . Science teacher ( Mark Wahlberg), his wife (Zooëy Dechanel) their friend ( John Leguizmo) and his daughter all head out of the city to try and escape the ensuing chaos. And errrr that's about it. Truthfully not a great deal happens in The Happening. There's a lot of wandering about in fields and plenty of close ups of Walberg,s pained face as his character manfully works out what the hell is going on. br /That he does, by applying basic precepts of scientific thinking, is inevitable but then there is a lot that is inevitable about this film. Nothing remotely surprising , scary, or perturbing occurs and that staple of the Shymalan film the twist ending is so utterly predictable that it would have been more of a twist if it had just been left out all together .Apocalyptic drama based on human beings being viewed as the enemy of mother earth ( which lets be honest we are) has been far more effectively dealt with in a film called The Last Winter [2006] [DVD]. What should be fantastical feels mundane and what should have the ring of true drama feels silly and contrived. Even some good performances and a death by lawn-mower cannot save The Happening from withering on the vine. You could feel suicidal too after watching this limp offering though your potted plants might like it. br / br /

review by: date: 2009-05-29 rating:

Stop Moaning
This isnt the best film ever, it isnt the worst film ever. It isnt Shyalaman's best (let's face it, he'll never better 6th Sense), but its a long way from his worst. He's made bad mistakes in his career, mostly in trying to match the killer, once in a generation twist of 6th Sense, but its for that that he's owed a little more consideration than some of the knee-jerk antagonistic nihilism on display here. I havent personally rated any of his subsequent films taken as a whole, however, Unbreakable, Signs and The Village featured well structured and highly intriguing premises let down by poorly thought through conclusions. This movie is the latest in a spate of Hollywood end of the world scenarios, and its a highly original and well executed take on the genre. This movie is being written off as part of Shyalamans continuing artistic decline, but the characterisation doesnt fit and isnt fair. If this had followed 6th Sense it would be being judged far more favourably. If you like the end of the world genre (as I do), try and view without prejudice, its his most 'complete' film since his first, and its not bad at all.

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