I think it is laudable when film directors want to use their projects in order to raise awareness of some problems that affect our society. But I also think that exaggerating to the point of nonsense is not the best way to present a serious situation like pollution or climate change. I’m sure that what goes around comes around and the effects of our actions towards nature will come back at us, but I don’t think that the irrepressible desire to kill ourselves is likely to be the cause of human extinction.

The Happening, directed by M. Nigtht Shyamalan, is there to contradict me and it would have managed to convince me I was wrong if only it had some arguments. No, not solid arguments, just arguments..ok, just one argument.

It’s not that the idea is bad, is just that the result is so far fetched and the characters are so insipid that the viewer’s patience drops to zero as the movie unravels.

The main idea is that a mysterious toxin urges people to commit suicide, by destroying their self-preservation instinct. Where does the toxin come from? Not from terrorists or some nuclear plant. It isn’t even a government experiment that went wrong. The toxin is eliminated by Nature, yes trees, grass and other nature stuff.

It seems like Nature has had it with people destroying it and decided to take a stand by emitting the fatal toxin which makes her ex-friends, humans, commit suicide. If you still think this is somewhat logic, just watch what methods people use to put an end to their lives: some people jump from tall buildings or in front of lawn mowers, one woman sticks a hairpin in her throat and others throw themselves into wild animal cages in order to get eaten.

This leads me to the conclusion that Mother Nature is definitely a gore-fan. How can she release a toxin that is so unlike other toxins and makes people so creative in killing themselves?

If you are also a gore-fan let me inform you that it doesn’t last long and for the rest of the movie you would have to watch Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel in one of their worst performances. Wahlberg is playing a science teacher named Elliot and looks scared all of the time and Deschanel plays his wife, looking like she’s going to faint any minute. Her lifeless performance makes her look like a zombie.

The couple which, by the way, goes through a weird period, along with Elliot’s best friend played by John Leguizamo is running from this deadly toxin that threatens all humanity.

It’s for sure that director Shyamalan's success began and ended in 1999 with “The Sixth Sense.” He even told Reuters that he mainly wanted this eighth film of his to be “a really fun B-movie.”

I have no doubt that people will go to see the movie because his trailer is catchy but I’m not sure for how long they will stay in the movie theaters.

Let’s just hope that Mother Nature isn’t offended by “The Happening,” or else she will start puffing deadly toxins.

The Happening- 2008

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Release Date: June 13, 2008

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo