I saw M. Night Shyamalan's new movie, The Happening. There was some nice artistic blood and gore and maybe a takehome message along the lines of 'mankind needs to shape up and treat the environment with more respect, lest the environment is pushed to the point where it turns on us.' Our Hero in the movie wore a mood ring. There were some moviegoers who felt the reason he and his wife and the girl survived was because the love and positive feelings they felt for each other generated chemicals that prevented the plant-produced toxin from attacking them. Or, it could be the aura generated by the loving family did not elicit the defensive response from the plants. After all, the deathfest at the opening of the movie started with yelling, as did the attack at the end. Personally, I didn't read that much into the movie. I was interested in a statement one of the movie-scientists made about the tobacco (Nicotiniana sp.) responding to a caterpillar by producing a chemical that would attract the type of wasp that lays its eggs in that caterpillar. The action of secondary plant chemicals was a cool premise for a movie, in my opinion. Plants talk to each other all the time using chemicals and can produce other chemicals in response to the message. If they viewed people as a threat, the world could be a scary place.
Comments
THANK YOU for saying something about the mood ring and the possibility of emotion having something to do with the movie. Nobody else anywhere seemed to pick up on it. But I kept noticing all movie long how the mood ring kept coming up in conversation, and how the main characters never showed anger or yelled. meanwhile, more than a couple of the deaths occured directly after, or during, spats of negative emotion.
Actually, the Mood Ring was the twist. At one point, the main charater is explaining to the little girl that people give off an aura and that some cameras pick up the color of this aura…much like the mood ring. Think about the opening scene….the two women on the park bench. Who had the better aura? Who survived? I think the plants were just eliminating those people who were negative, angry, self-absorbed, petty. They were able to detect aura.
I’m very intersted in “Mood ring”.
I want this one!!
I had noticed this also, think it may been suggested in the film innitialay only to have it’s connecting scenes end up on the cutting room floor. Seems strange that it was not fully explained as can only find you guys online here that ‘got it’
Too add:-Deadfull script, acting, casting, directing and locations…… Capped off with the lame walk that Walberg makes to his partner at the end of the movie; He’s apparently arriving home from work to meet the love of his life though he seems to be walking like a zombie on ketamin,… and… has to side step the kerb a few times to get to her. A proper director would have made him do it again (with feeling) and possibly selected a locale that allowed the character to make this emotional walk with out having to avoid the trees.
Also dont think the writer/directors attempt to make the wind scary worked either. Stick to what you know maybe…
Shame that the fims failings may result in a worthwhile message being un-heard.
Okay, I fell in love with this movie. Based on the reason that they were saved was because of there exctchange of love for one another and there aura was there sheild. then it came out on DVD. Watched it again, and thats not the case. Majorly disapointed. In my opinion Night should have steered the movie in that direction would have made it so much more moving in my eyes. Not to dis on going “Green” or anything.