Great, but very predictable SPOILERS ABOUND!

Rating: 7/10 (2 August 2004)

The first part of my review will be what's good, and a slight explanation. The second part will be spoilers, and you will be notified when those show up.
Now, first off, I liked this movie. The acting was great, the direction was great, the art direction was great, the cinematography was off, but not distracting, the music was very good, and the editing could have been better.
The performances by Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard, William Hurt, and Joaquin Pheonix were great. Especially Adrien Brody. This will be a great chance for Bryce Dallas Howard to become a big star. She has great talent, and is pretty to boot.
The direction was good, it was a well crafted movie, as it was. It could have been done better, but i'll get into that in the spoilers section.
I loved the sets, the locations, the costumes, the lighting, all the technical aspects were wonderful.
The cinematography couldn't decide if it wanted to be interesting arthouse or standard Hollywood. That was the major downfall.
NOW THE SPOILERS! IF YOU STILL PLAN ON SEEING THIS FILM, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER! IF YOU'VE ALREADY SEEN IT, PRESS ON!
The major twist at the end, us finding out that it's a town living in confines in the modern world, was entirely predictable. I honestly say that i had inclings of this twist as soon as i heard this premise months ago. I didn't know for a fact, but i had feeling about it.
As a matter of fact, a few years back, i had the very same idea for a story. under similar circumstances. Now, i'm not claiming that he ripped me off. I never wrote anything down, nor did i speak of it to many people. It was an idea. And many people have common ideas. This just shows that i think on the same level as a former thrill-master (Sixth Sense was a great thriller, no matter what any of you think), and i take that as a compliment to my creativity.
But putting that aside, i saw it coming. Totally and utterly saw it coming. As soon as they revealed that the monsters were fake. That just made it all too aparant that the villiage was fake too.
Had Shymalan left that minor twist out, the end twist would have been even more surprising. But he just made it too obvious, and that is the downfall of this film.
Finally, i give it a 7/10. The acting was there, the structure was there, the technical aspects were there, but the execution just wasn't there, and that is why it isn't higher.