Overall Rating
  Awesome: 14.15%
Worth A Look: 16.98%
Average: 12.89%
Pretty Bad: 17.61%
Total Crap: 38.36%
13 reviews, 240 user ratings
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| Village, The |
by Luke Pyzik
"Essentially a two hour long episode of 'The Twilight Zone.'"
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The town elders of The Village are conservative even compared to the standards of the late nineteenth century culture in which they live. They have chosen to leave the sinful nature of “the towns” and take up residence in an isolated portion of the Pennsylvanian woods. There they live an idyllic lifestyle, full of all the charms and fancies of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.Things are so good, in fact, their only problem seems to be the unidentified monsters they lovingly refer to as “those we do not speak of.” One wonders if anyone in the village has noted the irony in such a nickname, seeing how frequently everyone talks about them. For decades, these monsters have been good enough to keep to their own territory, but when young Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) wants to venture into the woods, across the river, past grandma’s house, and straight into “the towns” to collect some medicine for his sick brother, the monsters express their displeasure with grandiose cattle murder.
"The Village" has been written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, a filmmaker that splits critics and audiences down the middle with sharp precision. People love him for the same reasons other people find him repulsive- reliance on trick endings, slow pacing, and mind-boggling confidence that gives him the nerve to compare himself to Hitchcock, Spielberg, and Sterling with every shot he commits to film. Indeed, "The Village" is yet another example of all those traits, and those who are tiring of Shyamalan’s act will find no comfort here.
But there’s something appealing about a filmmaker with such swagger. While Shyamalan is nowhere near as good as he thinks, you have to respect a guy willing to make a movie like "The Village," which is essentially a two hour long episode of "The Twilight Zone." The film benefits from some solid performances, particularly from Bryce Dallas Howard, who commands the lead role of Ivy Walker with a nice balance between strength and vulnerability. Ivy is essentially the center of the story, the blind daughter of village patriarch Edward Walker (William Hurt) and love interest of both Lucius and the mentally disabled Noah Percy (Adrian Brody). Hurt brings compassion and mystery to a role that desperately requires it, and Brody pulls off Noah Percy without embarrassing himself – something a lesser actor could have easily done. Sigourney Weaver also joins the cast as Lucius’s mother. She is given little to do, other than to bark at Lucius to stay away from the little box-o-secrets she keeps on full display in the living room that will, of course, be opened by film’s end.
When Shyamalan reveals the final twist, it is a double-edged sword. On one level, he is so excited by his hand that he simply wants to reveal it, collect his chips and walk away from the table. But the problem with evoking a Twilight Zone sized twist is that the characters are transformed into Twilight Zone characters - sort of tragicomic figures whose humanity is compromised in service of a plot device. It is a narrative move that works brilliantly with a half our television show, but needs refining in order to accommodate a two-hour feature.Still, the twist fooled me and I smiled at its insolence. Shyamalan manages to make a broad, if not insignificant and unoriginal, criticism of ultra-conservatism and the controlling nature of fear without being completely obvious. While the social commentary isn’t as biting as he would like, with its first-rate performances and lush photography by Roger Deakins, "The Village" is more than what most movies offer. Even if it’s not Hitchcock, it’s a step in the right direction.
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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=10269&reviewer=381
originally posted: 08/31/04 00:10:54
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USA
30-Jul-2004 (PG-13)
DVD: 11-Jan-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
02-Sep-2004
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