The logic doesn’t really make sense. There’s a theme about planet Earth being angry at the way we’ve treated it. But the story can’t seem to tell the difference between the chemistry of trees and the weather that causes the wind that makes them move.
The two stars are poorly directed and end up seeming laughable. It’s a shame because the premise – people in parks inexplicably kill themselves – could have been an interesting one.
Somehow, The Happening grossed $163 million worldwide.
There’s lots that’s worthwhile about this independent film directed by Martin Hynes. Lou Taylor Pucci and Zooey Deschanel are both appealing in the main parts, and the core story is a good one, but it’s let down by some aesthetic choices. There are too many rather laboured dream sequences. (It’s quite telling that the picture on the DVD box is misleadingly taken from a scene that the main character only imagines.) The “cowboy” theme is overworked, too. The “suspense” about the car owner – Who is she? What does she look like? – is casually thrown away when the character is visualised as being with him on the journey before the couple actually meet. Also, I really hated the music by M. Ward – half-hearted, “stoner” songwriting that manages to be both mediocre and grating.
If the road-trip narrative had been allowed to dominate, and a more realist approach had been taken regarding what we see on screen, it could have been far more compelling. Instead, it feels like a film for – and made by – easily impressed teenagers.
