The Happening (Special Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]
The Happening (Special Edition + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]
20th Century The Happening (Blu-ray) From M. Night Shyamalan, the writer-director of “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs”, comes a gripping thriller about a family onthe run from a mysterious and deadly phenomenon. Academy Award(R) Nominee Mark Wahlberg (2006 Best Supporting Actor ? “The Departed”) stars as ElliotMoore, an ordinary man trying to save his family from a terrifying, invisible killer. As Elliot begins to discover the true nature of what is lurkingout there, it soon becomes clear that no one - and nowhere - is safe. You’d expect the end of the world to be no day in the park, but in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening, 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. The Happening is Shyamalan’s best film since The Sixth Sense, partly because he avoids the kind of egregious misjudgment that derailed The Village and Lady in the Water, 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? –Richard T. Jameson
Beyond The Happening on DVD
 Jumper on DVD |
 Street Kings on DVD |
 Deception on DVD |
Stills from The Happening (Click for larger image)
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User Ratings and Reviews
1 Stars Could this REALLY be happening?
I think Mark Wahlberg is a capable actor, so I blame Shyamalan for the fact that almost every one of his lines is either a question, or sounds like a question! It’s so weird, fake, and annoying. Besides the bad acting on almost everyone’s part, the plot is about characters running from a slight breeze. Wahlberg practically looks at the camera at one point and says “Could this Really be happening?” This really could have been a cool, fun film, but Shyamalan really messed it all up. Perhaps he shouldn’t have had so much control over the film (writing, directing, and producing). I have to admit that I did watch it twice, but only because I couldn’t believe it was that bad!
4 Stars good movie
I like this movie. I am a big fan of mark wahlberg. Mark is a cool dude. The movie, is 4 out of five from begining to the end.
5 Stars THIS IS MY FAVORITE MOVIE. buy it buy it buy it!!!!
the lesson: live green or die. we need to recycle.. . and hybrid cars.. totally.. i love this movie.. and blu-ray makes it way cooler. you can see the moments something gorey and actually entertaining is about to happen but then cuts away at the last second way more terrifyinglier.. o man this movie was so awesome.. im so scared everytime when mark walberg is running around in a grassy field with twenty other people screaming for their lives because the wind is chasing them.. carrying with it what we find out to be a lethal neurotoxin released by all plants everywhere even in the parks where kids are playing. thank god they didnt not not show us those kids killing themselves.. i mean i live in the suburbs.. i’m not used to seeing dead people hanging in trees.. i mean that only happens to black people right.. if you haven’t seen this movie.. you should buy it right now.. don’t rent it first.. you’ll watch this movie over and over.. it’s that awesome.. it will change the way you think about how films are made.. and about how you want to live your life… it brings a whole meaning to dont step on the grass.. this one just blows your mind… the baby talk about the mood ring right before they ran out on the lawn to kill themselves had me just gushing in tears..
5 Stars I loved it!
I supposed the movie is not for everyone, as everyone was walking out of the theater, I hear a few comments like how dumb the movie was…my husband and I thought it was pretty good that we’ve purchased it in blu-ray when the movie was released on dvd/blu-ray. I like the fact that it’s clean, no trashy dumbed-down topless women (so I don’t have to wash my eyes a million times). I wouldn’t mind if there were a little more gore but I was pretty satisfied with how it was.
1 Stars Wha happened?
I caught M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” on opening night, 7pm. 34th Street, Manhattan. Opening night in NYC is unlike anywhere else, the movie could be total rubbish, but the energy of the audience is worth going for.
With all the hype, these moviegoers were ready to be scared. The credits rolled with a silence over the entire screening room. Across the screen a series of sped up motion clouds create a tense atmosphere and the music sits low in the background. We were all waiting.
Then it happened, some girl in the theater screamed at the top of her lungs- a bellowing, blood curdling scream.
The entire theater jumped, then we all laughed.
[...]
My experience was fun, but the movie was, well harsh then sputtered out. I’m pretty much a wuss, and covered my eyes frequently. My biggest difficulty was knowing that two rows in front of me sat a mother and her two children, younger than my own. I would never take to see this film. Her kids must have been like seven and four.
I sat there with my questions: What is this “Happening”? Is this getting humanity ready for the return of Christ? Will this be anything like M. Nights last 2 movies that aren’t even mentioned in the advertisements?
From the beginning, I had decided to take the movie for whatever it was. This plan pretty much worked until they came to the crossroads, which seems to be what M. Night did as well. Then I got totally bored. Even seeing Zoey Deschanel’s eyes several stories tall, over and over, could not keep my boredom away.
Filed under: Blue Ray Movie Reviews