It’s Just Not Happening.
I am a big fan of M. Night Shyamalan’s films, so when I heard about ‘The Happening’ coming out I can remember really looking forward to it!
He had already created some totally brilliant movies that were a refreshing change to much of the other dross that so frequently wandered out of Hollywood. ‘The Village’, ‘Signs’, ‘The Sixth Sense’ and ‘Unbreakable’ had all been very cleverly made and seemed to have something a bit special about them. It appeared that Mr. Shyamalan was able to take actors who I had previously seen as being a little overrated and put them in films which actually showed off their skills.
For me, the only mediocre part of his career had been, ‘The Lady in The Water’, but even that had been an interesting idea to make into a film. Okay, so it hadn’t quite been on par with his previous movies but it had still been a reasonably good effort.
And then I watched his latest film. Oh, dear.
I hate to say this, but I think that ‘The Happening’ is one of the most disappointing films that I have ever seen. I say this because it starts off so very well; you are absolutely hooked within the first few minutes. What could it be that is causing tens of thousands of people to commit suicide? It is a totalling gripping idea for a film and, as far as I am aware, no-one has ever done anything like it before. But then, after this completely riveting start, the film goes on to become sluggish, incoherent and bland.
At the end of ‘The Happening’ I was left feeling disappointed, deflated and even a little bit depressed. What had prevented M. Night Shyamalan from making this story work? It really could have been so, so good.
My only hope now is that he returns to his former glory. He is one of the most original filmmakers we have and it would be a terrible shame if this were the first step on a downward slope in his career…
Right before I log off I need advice from all my internet savey mates a friend of mine has recently started an online book binding business and was desperately looking for ways to reach out to her clients. Since she new site went up, her mailing list has doubled within an incredably short period of time and she has been looking into email marketing software, does anyone know a good place who do this for small businesses for a good price?