Capsule reviews of films opening this week:
"The Happening" - Not much happens in fright specialist M. Night Shyamalan's latest. "The Sixth Sense" director effectively delivers his usual broody air of foreboding. And this fear-mongering story of an airborne toxin that causes victims to snuff themselves will induce seat-squirming as people shove hairpins into their throats or hurl themselves en masse off a high rise. The shock value wears off quickly, though, and Shyamalan strands us in a boring cautionary tale with an infantile eco-message about humanity needing to live in harmony with nature - or else. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel play a couple racing through the countryside to keep ahead of some mysterious substance that induces suicide. The movie's vague, shame-on-us finger-pointing would have been tepid in the 1960s and 1970s, when Hollywood condemned our rapacious species with more fun and interesting future-shock flicks such as "Planet of the Apes" and "Silent Running." All Shyamalan comes up with is an intriguing impetus for a story that ultimately goes nowhere and says nothing. Two stars out of four.
-David Germain, AP
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"The Incredible Hulk" - The fanboys will probably be happy with this incarnation of "The Incredible Hulk." At least we can say that much for it. And that's something we most assuredly could not say about Ang Lee's sombre, introspective and largely derided 2003 take on the beloved Marvel Comics hero. There's a lot more action this time around as you might expect from "Transporter" director Louis Leterrier - a deafening, endless amount by the colossal conclusion - as well as fond references both to the comic book series and to the television show it inspired starring Bill Bixby. (Leterrier even sneaks in some of Joseph Harnell's "Lonely Man" theme, or as Stewie on "Family Guy" refers to it, "That sad, walking-away song from 'The Incredible Hulk."') This version is indeed bigger-stronger-faster, which seems appropriate in telling the story of a guy who's been juicing. But the inevitable comparisons to "Iron Man," Marvel Studios' first blockbuster this summer, serve as a glaring reminder of what the "Hulk" lacks: wit and heart. Despite the presence of Edward Norton, an actor capable of going just as deep as Robert Downey Jr., we don't feel a strong sense of Bruce Banner's inner conflict. That's surprising, given that the famously detail-oriented Norton worked over Zak Penn's script. Liv Tyler seems a bit stiff as Bruce's long-lost love, Dr. Betty Ross, but the movie is livened up by Tim Roth as Bruce's new nemesis and Tim Blake Nelson as the mad scientist who is trying to help Bruce rid his body of gamma rays. Two and a half stars out of four.
-Christy Lemire, AP
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