Movie Review: The Happening

Don’t mess around with Mother Nature. Important words like these may just come back to bite you. Danger of the ominous kind occurs in The Happening, a very eerie tale of destruction that’s subtle and not unlike the menace suffered in Cloverfield, minus the monster. East Coast residents of the U.S. encounter a dire threat when something terrible begins to wipe people out. Without warning folks are struck down by some metaphysical force or virus that has the populace unaware of what to do and by then it’s often too late.
Panic sets in and Shyamalan does a very effective job for 91 minutes of instilling slow terror amongst the victims. Heroes are few and hard to come by in this tale with the married couple Elliot and Alma Moore providing the eyes through which we see the slow seething horror. On the run from something unknown the Moores travel away from their home base in Pennsylvania with friend Julian. Departure plans are rather short-lived as Julian decides to find his wife and leaves his loving daughter Jess with the Moores.
Bit by bit we sense the desperation of these people as along with others they get cut off from the rest of the world. Nature turns violent in a sublime way with those survivors somewhat lost in a daze with help very hard to come by.
Strong performances from the entire cast really enhance the terrific atmosphere of desperation created in this piece. Solid as a rock Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights) convincingly plays a teacher with a theory on just what’s going on with Zooey Deschanel (Elf) equally compelling as aloof wife Alma who has a few problems of her own.