The Happening (2008)
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray...
-Alfred Joyce Kilmer
I quoted that poem, above, in my original blog review of The Happening(2008) some seven years ago.
Much like Roger Ebert at the time, I enjoyed this M. Night Shyamalan film on my theatrical viewing. I found it surprisingly gory and nihilistic and also refreshingly off-beat in a season that brought us a lot of CGI superhero movies.
It was only as the weeks, months, and years passed that the film’s reputation as a laughingstock took on a breathing, pulsing life of its own. The Happening was widely pilloried, mocked, and dismissed.
Today, it exists as a wonderful punch-line: a movie so "bad" that one can't possibly defend it.
Mark Wahlberg as a science teacher? Scared humans attempting to out-run the wind? Plants communicating with people?
Huh?
For those …
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray...
-Alfred Joyce Kilmer
I quoted that poem, above, in my original blog review of The Happening(2008) some seven years ago.
Much like Roger Ebert at the time, I enjoyed this M. Night Shyamalan film on my theatrical viewing. I found it surprisingly gory and nihilistic and also refreshingly off-beat in a season that brought us a lot of CGI superhero movies.
It was only as the weeks, months, and years passed that the film’s reputation as a laughingstock took on a breathing, pulsing life of its own. The Happening was widely pilloried, mocked, and dismissed.
Today, it exists as a wonderful punch-line: a movie so "bad" that one can't possibly defend it.
Mark Wahlberg as a science teacher? Scared humans attempting to out-run the wind? Plants communicating with people?
Huh?
For those …
