M. Night Shamalamadingdong

[Zapranoth]

Is it really martian invaders or is it just that the plants release a toxin that makes people kill themselves?

[quabrot]

The plant toxin thing is what they talk about.  But in the beginning of the movie, Mark Wahlberg lectures his class about how mysterious things happen in nature that we may try to explain, but never truly get beyond "theories".  I say it was CFCs depleting the ozone layer.

The alien thing was a joke about the kind of Shyamalan twist people would expect.

[The Burgomaster]

I saw this today (even though I had read all the lousy reviews).  First of all, the fire alarm went off and they evacuated the theater before the movie started.  Not a good omen . . .

Anyway, my opinion is, like most of M. Night's efforts, this was a pretty good idea for a movie that went horribly wrong.  Some of the dialogue is SO bad, and some of the acting (including Wahlberg's) is SO corny that you can't help chuckling from time to time.  I thought the first half hour or so was pretty good, but M. Night got himself to the edge of a slippery slope and started a rapid plunge down hill from which he could never recover.  In the tradition of UNBREAKABLE and THE VILLAGE, the ending is totally flat and unsatisfying.  My suggestion is wait for the DVD release, THEN wait for someone else to buy or rent it and invite yourself over.  When you get there, don't watch it.  Watch MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL for the 100th time instead.  It's a much more rewarding experience and you'll thank yourself in the morning.

[Mr. DS]

Yeah Shamalamadingdong's "twists" never seem to pan up to much  My brother called the twist in the first 10 minutes of The Sixth Sense.  I recall watching Signs and having the laugh of my life after it.  The fact a huge alien threat can be thwarted with the means Mr. Shamalamadingdong implies is pure idiocy.   The best laugh I had was when my wife mentioned the alien home video reminded her of the classic bigfoot one.  She was most definitely spot on.

[AndyC]

Yeah, after seeing Signs, I had to wonder, as many others did. If humans went to invade a planet with oceans of sulfuric acid, where all life was full of sulfuric acid, sulfuric acid vapour was nearly always present in the air, and sulfuric acid periodically rained down from the sky, would we go without any kind of protective suit?

I don't see that as nitpicking. It's just common sense.

[Inferno]

I still say M Night stole the Signs movie ending from an Invader Zim episode.
Seriously. Go look up "the wettening", If he didn't see that; I would be totally suprised.

[akiratubo]

would we go without any kind of protective suit?

Not only that, would we try to attack the sulfuric acid filled life forms with our hands and teeth?

[Trevor]

Here are some statistics and (sometimes hilarious) quotes from rottentomatoes.com:

60 out of 76 contributors gave this movie a "rotten tomato" rating.  Overall, it scored 21 on a scale of 100.





"

You feel like you're not watching the end of the world but the end of a career."

"There's a long tradition of receiving messages from burning bushes, but jiggling bushes are not to be trusted, and neither are filmmakers who ask us to shiver in their leafy midst."

"It's downright stupid."

"No one will watch any of Shyamalan's recent films twice. A movie that features Wahlberg suggesting everyone try to outrun the wind can barely be watched once."

"Wahlberg turns in one of his worst performances ever, but then he's saddled with preposterous scenes (like one where he tries to placate a ficus) and such lame lines as "Could this really be happening?" Funny, I was wondering the same thing myself."



"...bad in more than just an everyday, sure-does-suck kind of way."



"The greatest excuse yet to get that anti-M. Night petition started. The last thing we want is a future of Shyamalan films with the knowledge that we all could have done something sooner."

"The Happening quickly deteriorates into the worst movie of M. Night Shyamalan's career... and that's saying something

."

"one of the worst attempts at end-of-the-world ominousness since the Robot Holocaust battled the Ninja Apocalypse"

"The true disaster on display in The Happening is Shyamalan's career hitting rock bottom."

Karma for those, Burgomaster.

[asimpson2006]

Anyway, my opinion is, like most of M. Night's efforts, this was a pretty good idea for a movie that went horribly wrong.  Some of the dialogue is SO bad, and some of the acting (including Wahlberg's) is SO corny that you can't help chuckling from time to time. 

I just happen to see The Happening yesterday.  Didn't like it that much.  I agree with you Burgo about the dialogue, it was pretty stupid.  The worst parts for dialouge were IMO:

Most of the stuff the National guard dude said.
When Wahlberg was talking to the tree (The theater laughed at that)

The part that I hated the most of the whole film was ending.  I won't spoil it for anyone, unless they want to know I can PM them about it.  I told my date that the ending was so predictable I knew it would happen.

Another thing that I think was stupid was that the cause of why the plants did what they did.  It's never explained and it's never really given a proper ending to it.  Too many loose ends.

[GLKnight]

And to think, his NEXT movie is a live-action version of Avatar: the Last Airbender...

Well, at least he didn't write it. And thank god he doesn't do choreography. And the twist better be all female characters actually have big breasts to disprove you need sleek bodies to do athletics... and make sure the older men and teenage boys who go to see it actually stick around till the ending.

[HarlotBug3]

MNS is the greatest filmmaker of all time!

...just ask him

I liked Unbreakable, but I also love comics and still think 6th sense is one of the most overrated movies of all time, so take that context for what its worth.

I still say M Night stole the Signs movie ending from an Invader Zim episode.
Seriously. Go look up "the wettening", If he didn't see that; I would be totally suprised.

I'm not sure which came out first, but I AM sure that one was influenced by the other...and that the more you think about it the less sense it makes.

Anyone feel free to PM the twist (and what the hell the 'M' stands for while you're at it) as I'm getting this wretched teenager urge to run into the theatre, yell it, and run out. Lady in the Water confirmed my fears that MNS is exactly what you get when you tell a second rate indie movie man that they're a first rate blockbuster movie man.

[akiratubo]

And the twist better be all female characters actually have big breasts

Dude, they're like 12 and 13 years old.

[AndyC]

Somebody PM the twist to me too. I get the impression it has something to do with plants turning against us by evolving some kind of psychoactive substance. If that's the case, then there is really nothing to spoil. Another cool trailer for a lame movie by M. Night.

[CheezeFlixz]

Anyone feel free to PM the twist (and what the hell the 'M' stands for while you're at it)

According to IMDB his real name is Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan

I think if you run that through bablefish.com you'll find Manoj Nelliyattu is Hindu for mediocre filmmaker.

[AndyC]

Hmmmm, I think I'll be calling him M. Nelly Shyamalan from now on