strange and chilling

well, I saw The Happening. and I liked it. I hope we can still be friends.

It wasn't my favorite of Shyamalan's work (Signs and The Village top my list), due to a few reasons:

- I think that the two main characters were miscast. As much as I like Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg, I don't think that they were the people to play these particular roles. Wahlberg, in particular, has an overeager ernestness that works well in films where he needs to portray a strong faith or belief (in himself/his team, such as in Invincible, or in his country, as in The Shooter). In this role it was almost comic. For this role, I would have reteamed Shyamalan with Joaquin Phoenix, or maybe cast another actor with more subtlety (Ryan Gosling or Billy Crudup?) for the role.

...and Deschanel just didn't look right for the role. A stronger actress might have been able to pull it off, but she just ended up seeming doll-like. Emily Mortimer, Kelly MacDonald, or Michelle Williams would be some actresses I would much rather have seen in the role.

- I didn't like the score. It was more of a throwback to the old-school horror movies where the background music was more of a sound effect than a melody. I'm sure it was a conscious choice, and to each his own. my personal preference leans towards the sweeping 'Village' or crescendo/resolve 'Signs' scores.

...However, the cinemetography was impressive, impressive, impressive...

And I really like how Shyamalan bases his stories on large-scale crisis events and leads us through them from the narrow viewpoint of the everyman, rather than the broad perspective of the hero in the midst of the story.