Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, “The Happening” is a tense and often gory thriller/fantasy that unfortunately lacks the originality and twists of his most ambitious and successful film, “The Sixth Sense.” Presenting an underlying (although thinly drawn) “message” about protecting the environment, Shyamalan stumbles a bit with the goofy and ambiguous script that doesn’t offer much for the cast to work with and results in a number of overwrought performances.
When an unidentifiable “plague” infiltrates Central Park causing immediate disorientation and suicidal behavior, a Philadelphia science teacher, Elliot (Mark Wahlberg), agrees with his best friend and colleague, Julian (John Leguizamo), to gather their respective families and evacuate the Northeast.
After Elliot picks up his inexplicably spaced-out wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), they meet Julian and his young daughter, (Jess) Ashlyn Sanchez, at the train station and more reports attributed to terrorism begin to come in as a serious of random “attacks” occur and estimates of self-induced fatalities escalate. Eventually the train breaks down in the sparsely inhabited countryside and Elliot and Alma agree to accompany Jess to a “safe place” so that Julian can hitch a ride to New Jersey and locate his wife who he can no longer reach via cell phone.
