GRITZ Movie Reviews: The Happening, The Hulk

THE HAPPENING
M. Night Shyamalan is from another place. I am not sure if it is a planet or a parallel dimension, but the fact is, the director and writer thinks so far outside the box that the box itself becomes nothing more than a faded memory, like awakening from a dream. I am a die hard fan. Sure, like everyone else I loved The Sixth Sense and Signs, but I loved Unbreakable even more, as well as the critically panned Lady in the Water.

The Happening finds two school teachers and their families fleeing New York City after some sort of natural (or unnatural?) phenomenon starts causing people to walk backwards and commit suicide. Mark Wahlberg (aka: Marky Mark the 80’s recording artist, now an accomplished actor and producer of two hit TV series, In Treatment and Entourage) is perfect in the role of Elliot and wide eyed beauty Zooey Deschanel is equally believable as his wife Alma. John Leguizamo (for the comics fans, he played the Clown in Todd McFarlane’s live action Spawn film) is always a top flight actor, and again turns in an outstanding performance.

In a summer packed with fast paced action, super heroes and wacky teen comedies, Shyamalan brings a truly scary and cerebral thriller to the screen to force people to think. I like that.

It’s never really clear just what the happening is. Is it a virus? A toxin? A government experiment? Terrorists? All we do know is that it came up unexpectedly, without warning, and lasted one day. Twenty four hours, And it was confined to the North Eastern USA.

I have several conflicting ideas about Shyamalan’s purpose with this film. One idea is that we allow  fear, whether perpetuated by the mass media or by other humans, to dictate our course of action, when love is the real answer. Love over fear. When Elliot and Alma come together in the midst of the storm at the end of the film, the storm subsides.

It’s a brilliant piece, both written and directed by Shyamalan. It’s what I always call a “think piece.” No capes and tights, no rockets blowing up, no sex jokes, no 3-D animated pandas. Just excellent writing and acting. I doubt the mass consciousness will fully embrace this film, but that doesn’t matter. Shyamalan will keep making this type of cerebral movie until they are ready to get it. And that’s what gives me hope.

Five Stars

THE INCREDIBLE HULK
Following the awful effort at a Hulk movie five years ago, I was afraid the big green guy would never again get his chance to rule the silver screen. Enter Stan Lee and Marvel Comics, the creator and father of the character, and the same team that gave us this summer’s massive breakout hit Iron Man, and you have yourself a winner.

It ain’t easy to make Hulk look real on the screen, but they did. Very real, matter of fact. Edward Norton is perfect as the skinny Bruce Banner, who gets zapped with a few too many gamma rays and turns into the ten-foot-tall and wide load called The Incredible Hulk.

The action is non-stop, the S/FX brilliantly executed and the all star cast perfect. Norton is joined by none other than William Hurt as the power hungry Army General, and the beautiful Liv Tyler as Banner’s love interest. Tim Roth is excellent as the General’s number one man and even better as The Abomination, a creature that makes Hulk look like Mini Me.

One thing that I loved were the easter eggs for fans. At one point Banner is watching TV, a rerun of the sixties show “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” staring the late Bill Bixby, who played Banner on the seventies Hulk TV show. And yes, there is a cameo by TV’s Hulk, actor/bodybuilder Lou Ferigno, as a pizza loving security officer. Lou also provides the voice for the CGI Hulk.

Stan Lee gets his cameo, and we get another teaser at the end of the movie with Tony Stark telling the General about the Avengers project. Can you say “franchise?”  Excellent fun.

Five Stars

-Reviews by Michael Buffalo Smith

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