The Happening (Fox Blu-ray) + The Sixth
Sense (Disney Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: C+/B- Film: C/B+
The Happening?
More like what’s happening…to M. Night Shyamalan that is. After an epic breakout film debut with The Sixth Sense that would redefine
horror films, M. Night Shyamalan has been spinning out of control in a downward
spiral with his creative reputation being tainted by bad film after bad
film. Shyamalan had a solid second film
with his comic book inspired Unbreakable
in which he reunited with the Sixth
Sense’s Bruce Willis and fellow blockbuster-maker Samuel L. Jackson. Soon after the imaginative creativity of Unbreakable that made audiences believe
that maybe this Shyamalan guy was something special, he began to pump out
forgettable film after forgettable film.
Somehow living off of the success of his earlier films (and Stuart Little, I guess) Shyamalan has
been allowed to make basically whatever he wanted, with multiple studios
clamoring to back him. Regardless of how
bad his recent films have been, audiences continue to give him another chance
as they spend their hard earned cash and night out at the movies with little
ol’ M. Night.
What
could have been an intriguing and mysterious cinematic experience quickly
deviates into a goofy thriller that has moments of suspense with a dash of
creativity, but more than anything the film is another letdown in the M. Night
Shyamalan film catalog. In New York City
and soon throughout the entire Northeastern United States citizens have begun
to inexplicably commit mass suicide, by whatever means was most convenient at
the time. The person first becomes
somewhat delirious, then disoriented, and finally heads for the great beyond by
any means possible. At first the
“suicide epidemic” is thought to be some unforeseen bio-terrorist attack, but
it is soon apparent that there is much more to the oddities of the recent
events. The film follows Philadelphia
teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) as he moves his wife Alma (Zooey
Deschanel) and fellow teacher Julian (John Leguizamo) and Julian’s daughter
Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) from Pennsylvania via train. When the train comes to a screeching halt
after losing radio contact with the rest of civilization, Julian decides to
leave his daughter with Elliot and Alma in order to seek out his wife in
Princeton, New Jersey. Unfortunately,
the suicidal pandemic that is overtaking the USA reaps havoc on the Jeep that
Julian is traveling in. Together Alma,
Elliot, and Jess travel across the country meeting many individuals along the
way as the mystery of the abrupt suicides begins to reveal itself.
The film
has an array of odd elements that all seem to clash together and ultimately
lead to its undoing. It seems that
Shyamalan had many goals for his latest film, but like a small child with
A.D.D. Shyamalan’s tangential mentality leaves the viewer perplexed as the weak
plot unravels slowly but surely with a wavering set of rules for the “suicide
epidemic,” an underutilized cast, and an overall sense that the Director’s
political agenda came before all else.
We get it, global warming sucks…be careful. Whereas the world may be warming, Shyamalan’s
talents are cooling and leaving audiences bitterly and frozenly
unfulfilled. The Happening was a money maker in theaters, but if Shyamalan does
not start producing quality films like those of Unbreakable or The Sixth
Sense, there surely won’t be much left happening with his career.
Speaking
of The Sixth Sense, M. Night
Shyamalan’s first born film child also just recently hit Blu-ray; and after
almost 10 years impresses much more than The
Happening. The Sixth Sense was a cinematic and pop-culture phenomenon when it hit
theaters in 1999 and to this day remains a horror favorite among fans; even if
we all know the ending.
The Sixth Sense follows Child Psychologist
Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) who after an initial horrific and surprising
home invasion by a former patient named Vincent (who Dr. Crowe was unable to
help) is observed working with a new patient named Cole Sear (Haley Joel
Osment). It is apparent to Dr. Crowe
that Cole astonishingly has a similar affliction to that of Vincent and it is
his duty to help him at all costs. While
Dr. Crowe becomes obsessed with helping Cole his marriage is concurrently falling
apart, as he never sees his wife and the couple is becoming increasingly
distant; meanwhile Cole and his mother are at odds as she thinks he is acting
out, but has no idea how to help him. It is when Cole reveals a shocking secret
to Dr. Crowe that the film takes off; for Cole Sear can see dead people. Cole has lived in fear of the ghosts that
plague his daily life, but Dr. Crowe suggests that Cole should utilize his
unique gift, rather than fear it, and help these beings that may have certain
unfinished business. The film evolves
into a perplexing adventure that is unique, intriguing, and mysterious that
keeps the viewer enthralled from beginning to end.
The fact
of the matter is that The Sixth Sense
is a horror/suspense classic. M. Night
Shyamalan’s original plunge into theatrical stardom was an epic feat in film
that delivered in creativity, style, and exists as a purely enjoyable film that
can be watched again and again. This
reviewer thinks The Sixth Sense was
great then and just as good now.
The
picture and sound quality on the Blu-ray releases of the classic Sixth Sense and lackluster The Happening are extremely nice. The picture on both features are presented in
a high quality 1080p/AVC encoded 1.85 X 1 Widescreen that projects with a very
nice crispness and precision that displays both interior, exterior, and even
the darkest shots beautifully. The films
have very little (if any) significant noise or artifact, both boasting a great
color display and beautiful texture details as Shyamalan’s all too common
close-up shots hit the screen. The sound
is equally nice on the films with The
Happening utilizing a DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround and The Sixth Sense with its 5.1
Uncompressed (48kHz/16-bit). Both films
sound tracks maintain the ability to ‘boom’ when necessary and just as easily
highlight the ambient noises with succinct precision. The musical scores could project more evenly
from the speakers and the dialogue is a bit heavy from the front at times, but
for the most part the audio does flow nicely across the soundscape of all the
speakers.
The
extras on The Happening are adequate
in number, but lacking in content. All
extras are presented in HD quality and include two Blu-ray exclusives not found
on the standard DVD release. The Blu-ray’s
extras include Deleted Scenes, a Gag Reel, and multiple featurettes. The featurettes include Train Shooting
Featurette, The Hard Cut Featurette, Forces Unseen Featurette, “I Hear You
Whispering” Featurette, Visions of The Happening: A Making of Featurette, A Day
for Night Featurette, and Elements of a Scene Featurette. There is also the ability to use Enhanced for
D-Box Motion Control Systems and a Bonus View with Trivia Track for those who
have Bonus View-enabled players. Yes,
there are many, many extra features on this Blu-ray release; but after sitting
through the debacle that is M. Night Shyamalan’s newest film, there will be
little too no desire to sit through hours of lackluster extras about an even
more lackluster film.
The
extras on The Sixth Sense are no
where near as numerous as those on The
Happening, they are about six times more interesting. The extras include Deleted Scenes, a ‘Reflections
From The Set’ featurette, Between Two Worlds Featurette, Moving Pictures: The
Storyboard Process, Music and Sound Design, Reaching the Audience Featurette,
Rules and Clues, and a publicity features that include trailers and TV
Spots. The extras are the same as those
contained on the previous DVD releases, so don’t expect anything additional in terms
of content or video quality (all in Standard Definition). Some of the extras are annoying as Shyamalan
boasts of “how great he is” and others are a nice reflection of the making of
the film and the impact it had on audiences as well as the horror genre. Overall, not the best extras by any means but
better than those on The Happening.
Viewing
Shyamalan’s breakout hit and latest film at the same make for an interesting
comparison of where this film maker’s career has gone; or not gone. Shyamalan was supposed to be a new visionary
in Hollywood, but instead he has disappointed time and time again. And audiences seem to have Shyamalan Amnesia
as they go back for more about every two years when the once future visionary’s
newest venture in cinema catastrophe hits the big screens. I have a sick sense that this director thinks
he is unbreakable, but the reality is that there are many signs happening that
suggest if things don’t change his career is dead in the water.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
