The Happening, M. Night Shyamalan

Whenever critics get particularly miffed about a movie, I tend to make myself watch it. We're a couple of days off from Christmas, what better time than now to watch M. Night Shyamalan push from his self-described PG-13 mindset to a rated R? Tis' the season for mindless violence, right?

Sigh. I was slightly disappointed, but certainly not enough to go trouncing over the guy's creativity, as did some critics. Maybe he just wanted to see what he could do with a R rating... a pushing of the envelope so to speak.

I want to go on record as stating the film would have worked better as a PG-13. The violence was distracting by what was otherwise an above average script. The premise was standard Hollywood blather: we're killing the earth and there by killing ourselves. Shyamalan takes it to a literal extreme that I think would have been much more effective if passed off as an under-current, tugging gently at our ankles while we lounge in knee-deep salt water.

Instead, he gives us a tidal wave and thereby leaves us shrugging our shoulders at the end. I pretty much ejected the DVD thinking, "Nice story man, but now it's time to put that crap out of my head." The themes themselves were nothing short of masterful. He just used a sledge-hammer when a chisel would have gotten more mileage.

But that's not why I'm bothering to blog it. I'll watch anything the man puts out because I believe he is brilliant. No, I'm blogging tonight for what the medium of film always does-- it tells us about ourselves. With The Happening and the newly released Seven Pounds, it would appear that we're on a suicide motif this year.

2008 -- the year we killed ourselves. I don't believe that vaguely similar themes appearing in blockbuster films are coincidence so much as I believe that C.G. Jung had a mind second only to that of Shakespeare. Our subconscious will find a way to express itself, one way or the other.

Both of these films take us to what we dare not speak outloud. Culturally, we're priming the pump to carry out a hidden death wish. I'd take the thought further, but it's late and I'm tired. Just saying, it matters. That's all.