I saw M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening the other day. I’m not going to give away any spoilers; but when Mark Walberg is teaching his science class about the disappearing bees, I thought “Man, this is going to be a good scary movie.” Because the bees really are disappearing and that’s some really scary shite. Without bees to pollinate our and other mammals’ food sources, we will not last long. Here’s an article from The New Yorker about it.
The movie wasn’t about the disappearing bees, and I imagine it would have been a much better movie if it had been. Much has been made about it being his first R-rated movie. Several violent and gory scenes earned the move its rating, but what’s painful is the fact that these scenes are totally unnecessary to the film. They exist solely for the rating and to make teenagers say, “Cool!” I thought the premise for the movie was good. It just wasn’t executed very well. The viewer always has to suspend disbelief and logic when watching a thriller/horror movie. This movie crossed that fine line into the this-just-doesn’t-make-any-sense category. I’m nit picking about details, and I can’t say anymore without giving the mystery away. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t anywhere near his best. I rank it just above Lady in the Water.
The trailer makes it look intriguing though.
Fiction just can’t compete with a reality in which we all go down without even so much as a whimper.
Fro some insights into how we’re killing the bees go to:
http://inthesenewtimes.com
Comment by inthesenewtimes — 11 Jul 2008 @ 4:54 am