I have to admit that M. Night Shyamalan movies have been a guilty pleasure of mine. If I’m being totally honest, I even found The Village and Lady in the Water entertaining. Even though they weren’t the same caliber as The Sixth Sense they had that air of cleverness to them that draws us to his movies. With that said, and just having seen his latest release, The Happening, I think I’m going to be turning in my M. Night fan club badge. What an utter disappointment this movie was.

The story line is the very formulaic “unlikely hero saves the day,” however it is the movie’s lighthearted nature, brilliant humor and enjoyable characters that make this such a great movie. I was laughing so hard at the acupuncture, and the chopstick-battle scenes that my laughter carried on well into the next scenes. It’s moments like this and the brilliantly choreographed Kung Fu fight scenes that really brought this movie into Pixar territory.

I really wanted to like this movie and I tried to convince myself it was good even after leaving the theater, but the truth wins in the end. This movie was a big let-down. The action was great, the story was classic Indiana Jones, however it was missing that one special element that made us fall in love with Indiana Jones… the humor formula.

Being that Iron Man was one of the first comic books I ever purchased as a kid, I was eagerly awaiting the release of this movie. I felt sure that I’d be disappointed once again in yet another failed comic book turned movie, but this time it was different. I loved it. Great cast. Great script. Great movie. I just hope that Robert Downy Jr. stays on the wagon so there will be good sequels to follow.