Blu-ray Review: The Happening

Release Date: October 7th, 2008
Running Time: 90 minutes

The Film

I am a fan of M. Night Shyamalan’s films. I loved The Sixth Sense, Signs, and The Village. Yet every film he makes appears to be a gamble from some angle. Lady in the Water didn’t pan out for him. When the advertisements for The Happening hit, I couldn’t have been more excited about his first R-rated film. After watching the film, I wish I could say that I liked it. The Happening, simply put, just feels off. Even with the technological improvements of the Blu-ray disc, I still could not get into The Happening.

The film opens with a weird “happening” going on. People in New York City are suddenly turning stoic, then killing themselves at the nearest opportunity, whether that is throwing themselves off a building, or sticking a hairpin in their throat. The government assumes it is a terrorist attack, until the strange event pops up in more areas across the Northeast.

Based in Philadelphia, Professor Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) is one of the first to question that this may not be a man-made problem. As the problem spreads, Elliot realizes they are located in the epicenter of it all. Together with his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), co-worker Julian (John Leguizamo), and Julian’s daughter, they board a train to get out of the target area. Communication from the train with the outside world is soon cut off, and the engineers stop it, stranding the passengers in the middle of rural nowhere. Then the epidemic finds them. Elliot deduces that it is targeting groups of people, so everyone splinters into smaller groups in hopes of surviving whatever is happening.

I don’t want to spoil the cause of the problem, but let’s just say the theme is a little heavy handed. But that’s not one of my larger issues with The Happening. From the very first time we see Elliot, the acting is just off. It’s not believable, and the characters lack any chemistry. These are talented actors, making it all the odder. John Leguizamo was the only lead who I thought created any sense of believability and reality with his performance. At one point, when asking Elliot and Alma to look after his child, he utters “don’t take my daughter’s hand unless you mean it.” The line delivery is spot-on for the situation, and may be the most touching, real moment in the film.

The shock scenes also quickly lost their effect. After the first few suicides, you become numb to it. A lion ripping apart a zookeeper, a man putting himself under the lawnmower—these moments are thrown at you, but start to fall flat. The beginning of the film had two incredible scenes: the initial moment where people toss themselves off the top of a construction site, and a sequence where a man shoots himself in the street only to have other affected people grab the very same gun and follow suit with sickening efficiency. After those two well-structured and harrowing scenes, everything else seemed superfluous.

The Happening isn’t the worst film ever made, but it is certainly not up to par with Night’s more popular work. Stilted acting, odd pacing, and a depressing overall mood kept me from enjoying what had seemed like a promising film.

The Disc

The video is presented in a 1.85:1, 1080p High Definition transfer. It is a noticeable improvement over the standard definition release, but still far from excellent. Colors are more vibrant, particularly in the rural outdoors scenes where the level of detail. However, things take a turn for the worse in the darker scenes. Black levels are strong, but a hefty amount of grain and video noise affect the level of detail. This causes an inconsistent experience when compared to the far more striking and three-dimensional rural scenery.

The audio is offered in an English DTS 5.1 Master Lossless Audio track, as well as English/Spanish/French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with English/Spanish/Cantonese/Mandarin/Korean subtitles. The lossless track features realistic, balanced sound reproduction, but isn’t overly active. Surround moments are mostly used to convey the wind as a character, with basic atmospheric effects rounding out the soundstage. Dialogue is crisp, and the score features a solid dynamic range. Surround effects aren’t as abundant as many mixes, but all of the sound elements are distinct and clear.

The Extras

A bonus trivia viewing mode is offered with Picture in Picture clips.

A series of Deleted Scenes aren’t likely to change your opinion about the film. The DVD cover art boasts that the extra footage was too intense for theatres. I doubt that was the case.

“The Hard Cut” is a 9-minute look at decision to make the film rated R, and discussion about some of the gore effects.

“Visions of The Happening” is 11-minutes of fly-on-the-wall production footage spliced with fluffy interviews from the actors.

“A Day for Night” is a 7-minute behind-the-scenes look at a day of production, highlighting M. Night’s style of directing.

“Elements of a Scene” is a 10-minute in-depth dissection of the car crash scene.

“Train Shooting” is a more generic, 5-minute piece discussing the challenges associated with shooting on a moving train.

“Force Unseen” is a short featurette on the role of the wind in the film, and the techniques used to create the ominous sounds.

“I Hear You Whispering” is a 4-minute interview with Betty Buckley discussing her character, Mrs. Jones.

Lastly, a Gag Reel and Previews are offered, as well as a Digital Copy of the film.

Final Thoughts

The Happening simply didn’t work for me, and I am definitely an M. Night fan. For whatever reason, the stars just didn’t align on this one. However, as this is just my opinion, I feel like fans of his work should give Night the benefit of the doubt and see it for themselves. The Blu-ray version is the best way to experience the film, but improved video and audio didn’t change my opinions.