I like M. Night Shyamalan. I need to say that right off the bat. I am semi-biased in my review of him because I like all his movies. What movies has he done (that I have seen)?
- The Sixth Sense
- Unbreakable
- Signs
- The Village
- The Happening
And… I like his movies a lot. I think he really stretches the consciousness a bit and builds the movie to a crescendo and right at the end, pulls the carpet out from under you.
But… The Happening, just didn’t ‘happen’ for me. Don’t get me wrong – the story is compelling one, but I don’t feel it was told in the correct M. Night way it should have been.
Most of his movies have been PG/PG13 related and subsequently lacked the gore/horrorish slasher element that usually accompanies suspense filled situations of life and death. There was always the innuendo and inference of violence, but he never had to show us the violence explicitly.
The Happening was to be his first ‘R’ rated flick which allowed him a greater freedom to pursue the gratuitous violence many people do seek in their thriller flicks (i.e. HOSTEL or SAW series).
But between Mark Walhberg (also a big fan) lack of real raw emotion when facing death down and the horrific death sequences that were all to explicit, I would rate this film about a 6 out of 10. Enough to see it for a matinee price, but save your night time movie money for the Incredible Hulk…
M. Night – note to you – keep with the proven formula of hidden violence and up the thrill gauge a bit. You have a knack for keeping people on the edge of their seats – but Horror and Gore is not your cup of tea.
Bill
I spent last night with something large and green and it was awesome. I am 36 and have a deep rooted love affair with movies and television. I grew up on Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno in the original series (all 50+ episodes they made during the late 70′s to early 80′s) and even the made for TV movies that followed.
I watched (although this might be the only public admittance of such) Ang Lee’s version of the Hulk from 2003 and found it to be very 1 dimensional and shallow. I don’t remember much about that movie except that Nick Nolte was in it and I still see no purpose to that character at all. (shiver)
This movie (contrary to Kurt Loder of MTV’s review) was truly awesome. I did not like the character Blonsky, as there were way to many gaps in the character and he looked like a drug dealer and yet was supposed to be this super gun-for-hire type character. I think it would have been best if they made him a hired mercenary or some such – but not the best of choices for this role.
Everything else was great. The story had passion, adventure and heart. The story wasn’t just about this big green guy beating the crap out of things left and right. It was about a person torn inside by his uncontrollable alter-ego. I found that either out of nostalgia or true empathetic feelings for Bruce Banner that when they played the Lonely Man theme (written by Joe Harnelll) at a certain part of the film, it really connected with me. I leaned over to my wife (who absolutely loved the film too) and told her that this song was from the original series (and is used in quite a few other movies/shows, too).
There is also a great scene with Liv Tyler and the Hulk on a cliff in the rain and without giving away too much, the CGI effects for the Hulk in the close ups simply blow away anything recently and really allow me to say – WOW, that looks real – if of course there was a 10′ tall, 1000 lb. dude running around in all green paint and yelling.
This Incredible Hulk movie, on a scale of 1 to 10, definitely ranks around a strong 8 or 9 in my books – this will find a home in my BLUE RAY home library when it arrives in 6-8 months.
**** WARNING ****
Do not click the ‘OTHER’ link below if you don’t want a semi-spoiler!
Long Live the Incredible Hulk – and I cannot wait to see some OTHER characters in the next movie.
Bill