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THE VILLAGE

I must say that I rarely, if ever read a movie review before I see the movie being reviewed. This rule goes out the window though, if the movie in question is a “scary movie”…
So yeah, I read a bunch of reviews before seeing The Village. I just wanted to have an idea of what to expect…so I write this review knowing what others have said, and trying hard not to be affected by their words…

M. Night Shyamalan is a brilliant director, and my personal favorite too. As a screenwriter, he’s a bit lacking, but in my opinion, very good. After reading a barrage of mixed reviews, I was expecting the worse from The Village, and I feared that Night had fallen from grace…and actually it wouldn’t have been that far of a fall. See, I liked SIGNS, but wasn’t thrilled with it. And looking back, UNBREAKABLE was better in concept than in execution. Sixth Sense obviously remains a classic though…and I actually consider his little “family film”, Wide Awake one of my favorite Shyamalan flicks ever. But with The Village, Night may have tried to pull off another twist ending, instead of working out the details (and plot holes) first.

But in the end I like this movie, and am in awe of it’s lead actress, Bryce Dallas Howard, whose famous dad Ron must be very proud! She does a really great job as William Hurt’s blind, kinda “all-knowing” daughter. Joaquin Phoenix does a nice job of being the “strong but silent” type, but he’s really not given much…
Adrien Brody is very good too, but I worry that his character, and his performance, were a bit clichéd. But I won’t hold that against the actor, or the screenwriter. The negative reviews were a little too harsh, so I’ll lavish some praise here. The Village isn’t a marvel of a film. But it’s an interesting extension of the Shyamalan style, and I will definitely be on the look out for his next film.

B

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