What movie, to you, was criminally UNDERrated?

Question

abc3643 · Accepted Answer

As I accidentally answered in your "OVERrated" question...

"The Happening" by M. Night Shamaladingdong. It was made in 2008 and was actually rather gripping. However, there wasn't a lot of action to go with the menace (it involved plants causing people to harm themselves). Roger Ebert got it though and I agree with his review.

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The Happening
Action 91 minutes ‧ R ‧ 2008
Roger Ebert
June 12, 2008
3 out of 4 stars

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live." -- Albert Einstein

An alarming prospect, and all the more so because there has been a recent decline in the honeybee population. Perhaps it is comforting to know that Einstein never said any such thing -- less comforting, of course, for the bees. The quotation appears on a blackboard near the beginning of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening," a movie that I find oddly touching. It is no doubt too thoughtful for the summer action season, but I appreciate the quietly realistic way Shyamalan finds to tell a story about the possible death of man.

One day in Central Park, people start to lose their trains of thought. They begin walking backward. They start killing themselves. This behavior spreads through Manhattan, and then all of the Northeast. Construction workers throw themselves from scaffolds. Policemen shoot themselves. The deaths are blamed on a "terrorist attack," but in fact no one has the slightest clue, and New York City is evacuated.

We meet Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), a Philadelphia high school science teacher; the quote was on his blackboard. We meet his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel); his friend, Julian (John Leguizamo), and Julian's daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). They find themselves fleeing on a train to Harrisburg, Pa., although people learn from their cell phones that the plague, or whatever it is, may have jumped ahead of them.

Now consider how Shyamalan shows the exodus from Philadelphia. He avoids all the conventional scenes of riots in the train station, people killing Philadelphia, not New York, and shows the population as quiet and apprehensive. If you don't know what you're fleeing, how would you behave? Like this, I suspect.

Julian entrusts his daughter to Elliot and Alma, and goes in search of his wife. The train stops -- permanently -- at a town. The three hitch a ride in a stranger's car, and later meet others who are fleeing, from what or to what, they do not know. Elliot meets a man who talks about a way plants have of creating hormones to kill their enemies, and he develops a half-baked theory that man may have finally delivered too many insults to the grasses and the shrubs, the flowers and the trees, and their revenge is in the wind.

By now the three are trekking cross-country through Pennsylvania, joined by two young boys, who they will eventually lose. They walk on, the wind moaning ominously behind them, and come to the isolated country home of Mrs. Jones (Betty Buckley), a very odd old lady. Here they eat and spend the night and other events take place, and Elliot and Alma find an opportunity to discuss their love and reveal some secrets and speculate about what dread manifestation has overtaken the world.

Too uneventful for you? Not enough action? For me, Shyamalan's approach is more effective than smash-and-grab plot-mongering. His use of the landscape is disturbingly effective. The performances by Wahlberg and Deschanel bring a quiet dignity to their characters. The strangeness of starting a day in New York and ending it by hiking across a country field is underlined. Most of the other people we meet, not all, are muted and introspective. Had they been half-expecting some such "event" as this?

I know I have. For some time the thought has been gathering at the back of my mind that we are in the final act. We have finally insulted the planet so much that it can no longer sustain us. It is exhausted. It never occurred to me that vegetation might exterminate us. In fact, the form of the planet's revenge remains undefined in my thoughts, although I have read of rising sea levels and the ends of species.

What I admire about "The Happening" is that its pace and substance allowed me to examine such thoughts, and to ask how I might respond to a wake-up call from nature. Shyamalan allows his characters space and time as they look within themselves. Those they meet on the way are such as they might indeed plausibly meet. Even the TV and radio news is done correctly, as convenient cliches about terrorism give way to bewilderment and apprehension.

I suspect I'll be in the minority in praising this film. It will be described as empty, uneventful, meandering. But for some, it will weave a spell. It is a parable, yes, but it is also simply the story of these people and how their lives and existence have suddenly become problematic. We depend on such a superstructure to maintain us that one or two alterations could leave us stranded and wandering through a field, if we are that lucky.

Lynx122 · Accepted Answer

Sin City

What movie, to you, was criminally UNDERrated?

A lot of people seemed to hate it but I thought it was creative and new. I liked Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez movies they have a flair to them and I don't understand exactly why people loved some Tarantino movies but disliked this one.

I don't know I thought it was really good. The visuals alone with black and white and just a little color were so stylish and nice to look at. And the brutality and the story it reminded me of Gotham where everything is going bad and a few people are trying to save what they can. The way the story is told is also very interesting and creative.

Gold618 · Accepted Answer

'The Thirteenth Floor'. Similar in concept to 'The Matrix' (which I don't like), and also released around the same time (1998) it doesn't give away the big secret within the first few minutes, and fill in the rest with silly kung-fu fighting and lame effects. What's more, there isn't one surprise twist in the plot, but  two .

IslaTheWitch · Accepted Answer

Merlin with Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Rutger Hauer, Isabella Rossellini, Miranda Richardson, John Earl Jones

Cinematic Lily · Accepted Answer

One movie that I find criminally underrated is "The Fall," directed by Tarsem Singh. It's a visually stunning film with breathtaking cinematography and a captivating story. Released in 2006, it didn't get the recognition it deserved. The movie blends fantasy and reality beautifully, with remarkable performances and a unique narrative that leave a lasting impact. It's an artistic gem that true cinema lovers should definitely check out! 🎬✨

D_Bone_Steak · Answer

"10 Cloverfield Lane" It's not just the movie itself that makes it amazing to me. It sends my imagination off in all sorts of directions. Sexual ones, survival ones, and I'll be real I imagine being in that underground basement when I can't sleep and just start making up scenarios of my day-to-day life.

I didn't like the other Cloverfield movies. A close second would be that trilogy..."Unbreakable," "Split," and "Glass." Those movies made me love the idea of super people again. M. Night Shalamon or however the fuck it's spelled does magic though. Re-watchable shit for reals.

ManOnFire · Answer

Both  Split  and  Glass  from M. Night Shyamalan. These movies were the sequels to  Unbreakable  which was okay, but Split was way better and James McAvoy's acting was both brilliant and terrifying. I understand that a lot of people felt underwhelmed or disappointed by  Glass'  ending but I think it was supposed to be that way. M. Night may have fallen from grace since he did  The Sixth Sense  but you can't dispute that his movies really do something different and they really do make you think. To me they're better than all the continuously ridiculous  Fast and Furious  offshoots that can keep getting loved and make dollars at the box office, but because one guy makes a psychological thriller that doesn't meet people's shallow expectations, then critics are ready to down it and say it's not worth watching.

exitseven · Answer

Good question. There are a lot of them but one that sticks put is a movie that nobody saw called The Fisher King with Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges. It really was a odd pairing with these tow guys but it was a reallly good movie.

Anonymous · Answer

He has to kill one member of his family to or they all die. You have to read greek tradgies to fully undertand, so some people didn't like it

NathanDavis · Answer

and so, to continue my answer to the other one... I am not the most informed on how the movies are rated by most people...

docster · Answer

It might not be very well known, but Al Pacino's film, 88 Minutes, was quite good but was low rated according to some.

Dargil · Answer

One is Cowboys and Aliens. They should have picked a better name.

BetaBucks · Answer

O Matador (The Killer) Book of Eli Waterworld

DryGermanGuy · Answer

Mulholland Falls . I love film noir and even more neo-noir.

Nikki1989 · Answer

Falling Down.

moneymagnet24 · Answer

I don't remember last which movie I watched  Suggest me good movie to watch.

Anonymous · Answer

Birth of a nation.

David5668 · Answer

A Muppet Christmas Carol.

CarolinaGirl5 · Answer

Peaky blinders

Agape93 · Answer

The postman

LiamJHayden · Answer

Dark City

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