They're Coming To Get You Barbra... The Trees That Is

on monday i went to check out m. night shyamalan's new film 'the happening'. the world has been committing mass suicide at random and it turns out we have good old mother nature to thank. i was really excited from the trailers, all those people offing them selfs in such brutal ways, but what you see in the trailer is what you get. i was a little disappointed in the lack of gore and brutality, it seemed like such a promising canvas. the bits that we do see are definitely well executed and even have me feeling a little squeamish. i can appreciate the fact that there wasn't so much because it really gave what there was a big punch, and believe me, it was quite effective indeed. 'the happening' was marketed as Night's first rated R movie but i was surprised to see a 14a rating on it when i picked up the tickets. i guess the R rating was for the US theatrical release. the violence isn't anything more or less then what you would see in any other movie that wasn't rated R but i guess the fact that it was all suicide made the rating board a little uncomfortable which branded it R in the states. also, the movie was marketed as a horror film, which it was not at all; it was a science fiction flick through and through. as with any science fiction film, you can really tell when the movie was made. you can definitely tell that this movie was made in our environmentally conscious times... well, veiled attempt at being environmentally conscious. humanity has become to much of a bane on the earth so the plants have come up with a plan; release a toxin that causes humans to commit suicide. the only big problem i had with this movie was the character development, it was really unnecessary and a lot of it didn't make any sense at all. the major character development flaw was mrs. jones. she has such an odd character and your just waiting to see what she's all about and then BAM! her face is through a pain of glass and nothing is said of her after that... pointless. i found this film was much like george romeros night of the living dead, not because there were zombies or anything like that, but the end of the world idea was executed so similar. in both movies, the world is ending, disaster is upon us and there is such a tense air, but the bulk of the material is shot in a field, or a farm house; it was executed so well we don't need to see the mayhem all over the world, because we believe it. considering hes only been around for about 10 years, i think were gonna see many many more movies from him, and if he can deliver movies with such classic elements i can only imagine how good his future films are going to be. night has been getting a load of slack for his films ever since 1999 when he's giant block buster 'the sixth sense' came out; all the critics and film goers have been comparing all his films to this massive success and they have all been disappointed. personally, i love all his films, its just to bad his massive hit had to be at the beginning of his directorial career. love him or hate him, the film 'the happening' reminds us we need to be more conscious of our world and treat it properly before mother nature goes all kung fu on our asses. cheers!