I hit "The Happening" this weekend. Going in, I wanted to like it but I have to give it a "meh". Maybe a C- if I had to score it. I guess it was rated "R" because of the gruesome, in your face violence. I'm kind of sorry to see M. Night go that route. Hitchcock scared the crap out of us without having to show people getting their arms ripped off. Anyway, I thought some of the suicide scenes were so ridiculous they were laughable, and that took away from the horror I was supposed to feel. There were some other things that bugged me too but I don't have time to write much right now. I bought to what caused The Happening and thought the way it was presented was kind of cool, even with the rushed explanations of the talking heads towards the end. But I left the theater thinking that M. Night made another mediocre film and I will tell friends and anyone at work that asks me about the movie to wait for it on DVD if you want to watch it.
Interestingly we got very definite cuts AWAY from most of the violence. Seriously, there was more overt stuff in the trailer than the English cut.
I liked it but then, I liked Signs, which in a lot of ways this is the scientific flip side of. Where Signs has it's characters understanding what's going on through their faith, here there's one specific moment where Elliot explicitly stops and THINKS about what's happening and I really liked that.
Also, and this is something that a lot of the reviewers over here just aren't getting, it's a 1950's SF movie. The entire grammar of the piece, from the time codes and shifting locations to the slightly stilted delivery of the leads (I was alternately intrigued and irritated by the fact they were both cold fish) to the arrival of 'Doctor Explains The Plot' at the end is all pure '50s end of the world SF.
Don't get me wrong, I agree it's a REALLY long way from his best work. But it's a definite step up from Lady in the Water, at least for me.