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June 11, 2008
Night Falls In Manhattan (and phily and rural pa, etc.)
There is really no way of understating how much of a failure M Night Shyamalan’s The Happening is.
It is the first film of his real career that feels incompetent and utterly gratuitous at times.
It is the first time he has used his good taste in actors and then hang them out to dry, getting perhaps the worst (adult) career performances out of Wahlberg, Deschanel, and Leguizamo… and then kicking Broadway stars Betty Buckley and Victoria Clarke in the teeth to boot.
It is the first time that I, as a viewer, felt that Night lost the courage of his twist-victions mid-twist.
But mostly, at 82 minutes, he is getting closer to making a TV anthology than ever. And The Happening would be just fine at 24 minutes with none of the unnecessary R-chasing violence in the film (“Look… it’s a squirting head wound!”).
I don’t really care that the punchline – and make no mistake… it’s another punchline, though he gives it away early and often, which doesn’t keep it from being a punchline, just an even less effective one – is goofy. I actually think the punchline could well work as a movie, even a Night movie, if he were not so interested in sleekness of design. That is to say, without spoilers, that the behaviors here just aren’t complex enough to be interesting. I am willing to go down the road with the premise, but there is a much more thoughtful movie to be had there.
There will be interest in this movie this weekend. Night is a brand. He has made that happen and give him credit. But he has failed his audience one too many times… and this isn’t even as “what the heck?” as Lady in the Water, which at least spurred conversation. The audience here will know exactly what he is saying… and will not care.
Look for the $18 million Lady start turn into a $15 million start here. And while Air Bud - or whatever the heck he is doing for Paramount is called - is a good way to dip out of trouble for a while, we are seeing a filmmaker at the very end of a run that did him well. He may well have another magic movie up his sleeve in ten years or so. But we’re more likely to see M. Night Gallery first.
And now, if you don’t want to read spoilers, you really have enough info.
So, here is THE SPOILER SECTION for those in the known or wanting to know.
SPOILERS
When the movie started leaning towards the idea that Betty Buckley, an isolationist in nature, might have been the one getting nature to fight back, I was amused but interested. It is so much more an idea in the Night wheelhouse, the making of a massive event into a personal issue. Yes, it would be even more absurd. But fuck it… isn’t that what Night does?
Regardless, the idea that nature would adapt to fight back against the polluting humans destroying the earth is what it is… but would the upshot really be humans committing suicide within minutes of short circuiting? Even if you went with the idea that nature blew out our minds, wouldn’t we be seeing more variety… angry people out of control… the meek fighting back… cars stopping randomly and others slamming into them… children crossing streets alone or jumping in the pond in Central Park? It’s a fascinating and horrifying idea. So is the notion of American paranoia about terrorism being turned on its head because its nature striking back at our bad, thoughtless behavior.
But Night doesn't deliver on any of the real potential of this creepy idea. No… this one is by the book. And just not a very interesting book.
As I used to joke about The Brown Bunny, critics in Cannes would not wait 2 hours for a blow job, but when he cut it down to a 90 minute wait, they were much more forgiving. But waiting 90 minutes (including a long, film-extending opening of clouds) for a jerk off where no one even gets off (and I mean that figuratively, for those of you who are squirming from the metaphor)? Nope. Even critics aren't that desperate.
Posted by dpoland at June 11, 2008 02:27 PM
Comments
The only reason I want this movie to rot is for Paramount to realize, WTF! And then pull his ass off Avatar: The Last Airbender. The only decent thing on Nick. It he is still on the project, if he screws it up, I will personally make my way to PA and make it happen to him.
Posted by: leepe
at June 11, 2008 03:09 PM
Air Bud?
Yeah, that is going to comeback and bite you ass.
Posted by: Tofu
at June 11, 2008 03:21 PM
I remember reading a short story in the early '80s about the nation being attacked by the angry souls of...roadkill. It seems that animals don't mind dying in the jaws of predators--at least their life served a purpose--but to die under the wheels of a Datsun, well, that just ticked them off no end.
(The author apparently neglected to note that even roadkill gets eaten, and depending upon the locale the scavenger might be birds, vermin, or the treacherous rednecked Bud-sucker.)
Posted by: RudyV
at June 11, 2008 09:26 PM
Even if the movie were crackerjack, do audiences really want to see a movie where the plants fight back? It's like an unwritten sequel to Roald Dahl's Sound Machine.
Posted by: Wrecktum
at June 11, 2008 09:51 PM
Day of the Triffids?
Posted by: RudyV
at June 11, 2008 10:13 PM
Not quite.....
Posted by: Wrecktum
at June 11, 2008 10:23 PM
Yeah, too Whovian, which is what I initially thought when the '81 serial came out, but then I discovered the book came out twelve years before the Time Lord's debut.
Carnivorous plants chasing people around--heh. How silly. Plants are just beautiful airheads, so harmless they couldn't harm a...well, anything larger than a housefly.
Posted by: RudyV
at June 11, 2008 10:58 PM
This is easily the stupidest concept for a film ever. It's basically a goofy premise wrapped around supposedly SHOCKING GORE, that's just plain goofy. It's like the fucking guy wants to act as if everyone has forgotten MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE! A film that is goofy, but has fun with it's goofiness.
This film also demonstrates that Night's run as a singles competitor has run it's course, and now it's time he mixes it up with a tag-team run. He needs to let the ego go, accept he needs a partner to help him get back to the top of the card, and spend the next few years trying to get his mojo back. A mojo he clearly lost the moment the Mouse pulled a Sergant Keith Manning and said; "Done."
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at June 12, 2008 12:46 AM
Well thanks for spoiling the movie. That's appreciated (i speak of the replies, not Dave's SPOILER-warned review, which I gladly skipped.
BTW, Day of the Triffids is great.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0
at June 12, 2008 01:08 AM
Also, I fail to see how there's a twist in Signs or Lady in the Water. If it's just the natural way of the movie it hardly counts as a twist. If the aliens in Signs turned out to be Mel Gibson's father, then it's a twist.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0
at June 12, 2008 01:10 AM
Oops. I guess I thought there had to be more than "It's plants." I mean, really, just look at the trailer--people spaz out then kill themselves, and it's just plants?!? There has to be so much more that only watching the movie would provide, right?
But then I still haven't seen CHILDREN OF MEN, and even had a chance to buy the DVD for $4.99, but passed up because I heard there was no explanation given for why women were no longer able to conceive. Seems the director thought it was an unimportant detail?!?
Posted by: RudyV
at June 12, 2008 06:32 AM
You should see Children of Men immedialty. The reason no reason is given for the infertility is to add to the unsettling nature of the film, not something they simply forgot to mention. If the world knew why they could be working to fix it, but not having a reason makes it all the more hopeless. And then when there is hope it is all the more important. I am not saying you will like the film, there are a lot who don't, but it is certainly one that is required viewing to make your own opinion.
Posted by: hcat
at June 12, 2008 08:04 AM
Stumbling in the dark is one thing, but they don't have a clue? Smacks of divine intervention, or a nonchalance on the part of the creative crew.
I detected the same vibe when I was listening to the commentary track on the Venture Bros DVD, when one of the creators mentioned the mystery over who the mother of the boys might be. Then they both laughed, snorting "Who cares?" Well, uh, some of us do. We care that there's an elephant standing in the middle of the room and you don't seem interested in even acknowledging its existence.
So I dropped the Venture Bros like a bad habit as a result of that insult.
Posted by: RudyV
at June 12, 2008 09:10 AM
I usually don't care about those types of details, especially when the movie acknowledges that it isn't important for the story that is being told. And I can't understand those who need that type of useless information. Would five minutes of a doctor explaining why there are no babies make Children of Men more riveting? It doesn't matter. It's like an accountant's way of watching a movie...be sure and account for every little detail. And accounting, as we all know, is very very interesting.
Posted by: The Big Perm
at June 12, 2008 10:20 AM
Then I guess Frank Herbert's WHITE PLAGUE lies at the opposite end of that spectrum. The book focuses almost entirely on the creation, spread, and search for a cure to the virus that's killing all the world's women. That was one hard slog, though, and I seem to remember less about the (anti)hero's journey than about the couple who nipped off to an abandoned decompression chamber for some nookie but had to spend the rest of the book there just to keep the gal alive.
So I guess details do matter to me. Like, why doesn't the shrapnel being kept away from Tony Stark's heart rip up the remainder of his organs?
Posted by: RudyV
at June 12, 2008 11:45 AM
Wow, RudyV. You dropped Venture Bros. because the creators are snarky?
Posted by: Rothchild
at June 12, 2008 12:13 PM
I FUCKING LOVE The Venture Bros.
Best relationship comedy show on TV.
Posted by: THX5334
at June 12, 2008 01:05 PM
Rudy, I think if details like that matter to you, you shouldn't watch genre films.
Posted by: The Big Perm
at June 12, 2008 01:10 PM
What's gonna kill "The Happening"? Good old-fashioned name-checking. Yes, the trailer refers to Mr. Shyamalan as "director of 'The Sixth Sense' and 'Signs'."
FWIW his movies aren't all set in rural Pennsylvania. Bucks County is suburbs in one half and small towns in the other.
Posted by: Chucky in Jersey
at June 12, 2008 04:45 PM
"From the director of The Sixth Sense and Signs" can only help the movie. "From the director of The Village and Lady in the Water" would be a better way to say what you want to say, Chucky.
Plus, as we've been saying, Shyamalan is one of the only directors for whom name-checking is (or was) a good strategy. Wake up.
Posted by: jeffmcm
at June 12, 2008 04:52 PM
I don't know - judging from a kind of "feel" you get from the general public (not critics, not film geeks, but John Q Popcorn), I think The Happening might open bigger than one might think.
In fact, I would say it has a good chance at a 30+ opening... but I don't think it's going to have legs once the bad word-of-mouth hits.
It's not like it's stink-proof (i.e. Indiana Jones). Then again, not many films are.
It'll probably do well on DVD though - it looks so much like one of those "oh, I might as well hire this for the night, and maybe one or two of these other films I missed at the movie theatre..."
Posted by: Paulseta
at June 12, 2008 05:19 PM
Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick rule. They also are not snarky. If you listened to that commentary. They explain that the point of the mom is not that important because they are clones of clones of clones. So who the mother was (If you look at the agent that guarded Rusty. It's clear that she's the boys' mom, but they do not want to discuss her role in their life at the present) does not matter as much as the circumstance the Brothers find themselves in now.
If you gave up the Ventures because you lacked the ability to put two and two together. You really need to travel to the NYC, find Doc Hammer, and tell him how sorry you are for such silliness.
Posted by: IOIOIOI
at June 12, 2008 08:48 PM
You stopped watching a show not because of what was actually in (or not in) the show, but because of what the creators said in the commentary? That's screwed up.
My theory is that if Children of Men were all about why the women are infertile then sure I'd want an explanation, but it's not.
Then again, if they did explain it then there would be people who would complain that the explanation isn't scientific enough or could never happen in reality. Some people just can't be pleased.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0
at June 13, 2008 03:11 AM
Never made it past season 1 so I only have that to rely on, but I don't think "snarky" is the word I'd choose--"jerks" fits much better. I listen to the commentaries because I want to find out more than what the show provides, and yet on one episode these guys spent more time talking about the Halloween costumes they wanted to wear than on the show they were supposed to be commenting on. It was definitely a "too cool for the room" vibe, like they were just doing the commentary for a check.
Plus, I've been rewriting an 800+pg novel in my spare time going on three years now, so, yes, details do matter, quite a bit. It seems...depressing...to see something tossed up on the screen that looks like it was hashed out over a weekend and never given any sort of deep thought. If it's Cheech & Chong doing improv that's one thing, but when movies like PIRATES 3 don't even obey the rules set up on PIRATES 2, then there is something definitely wrong going on.
Posted by: RudyV
at June 13, 2008 07:20 AM
There's quite a bit of thought in the film, but the meaning of why women are infertile is really beside the point of the film. Are you asking for a dialogue aside a la an old Star Trek episode where somebody says "If it wasn't for that mutogenic pathogen that cross-infected the left fallopian tube, everything would be fine"?
Posted by: jeffmcm
at June 13, 2008 02:40 PM
"Children of Men" isn't about much of anything.
Posted by: Blackcloud
at June 14, 2008 09:05 AM
"Air Bud"? Wow, Dave. Do yourself a favor - if you appreciate smart, creative children's literature *in the slightest*, investigate this little gem called Avatar: The Last Airbender, and realize why the film is going to be a big deal. And then freeze some crow. For later, y'know.
Posted by: equustel
at June 18, 2008 05:18 PM
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