Saturday, August 21, 2004
Burn This Village Down

M. Night Shymalan is an extremely gifted director,that I have absolutely no doubt about.His use of shadows,camera angles,suggestion and most importantly,soundtrack is absolutely top notch.And that is true of The Village as well.It's a shame that his writing is becoming more shambolic by the minute.I was suitably spooked by The Sixth Sense but his plot for Unbreakable left me more than a little underwhelmed.Subsequently,I decided to skip Signs and I don't really regret that.Catching The Village with a friend after watching Collateral alone,I was rather disappointed by the twist which amde everything taht happened before almost ridiculous.There could be spoilers ahead in this review so if you are planning to watch this movie,do NOT read further.

The Village depicts the tale of an isolated town confronting the astonishing truth that lies just outside its borders. At first glance, this village seems picture perfect, but this close-knit community lives with the frightening knowledge that creatures reside in the surrounding woods. The evil and foreboding force is so unnerving that none dare venture beyond the borders of the village and into the woods. But when curious, headstrong Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) plans to step beyond the boundaries of the town and into the unknown, his bold move threatens to forever change the future of the village. The only thing is the twist makes almost everything irrelevant.I do not understand why certain actions have to be done to such an extreme scale if...well,that will be revealing the plot.That'd mean i can only talk about the characters and the perfromances after praising the cinematography and the soundtracking the film.

Joaquin Phoenix's character is actually one of the most irritating I have seen in years.He is so obtuse to emotions and so haunted and depressed that I thought he must have been abused non-stop for his entire childhood or something.Adrien Brody's village idiot,Noah,is also not a well-developed character.sure,he has a thing for Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard) but beyond that,he seems more like a plot device than character.Bryce Dallas Howard is,I feel,the one saving grace in the film and I liked her a lot.Feisty and independent despite her disability,she is extremely likeable and Howard plays her well.I can see a bright future for this young actress.As for the other notable actors in the cast,William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver,well,their performances is limited by the requirements of their roles.Workmanlike but not special.

I'd end this review here by giving it 2 out of 5.Coming after Collateral,I didn't like it much.Could be because of Shymalan's characteristic snail's pace and his,this time,unfortunate twist.I just have a question for people who have seen the movie here.The guard at the end of the show showed that a lot of actions were unnecessary for the purposes they were meant for.In fact,the motives do not hold much weight.Why are they even doing what they did?It might be good to debate this.