Disappointing *and* presumptuous

Rating: 4/10 (3 September 2004)

How many more crappy movies will it take to convince me that M. Night Shyalaman cannot write a decent screenplay to save his life? Even after Unbreakable I was making excuses for him, because you know, there's some pretty decent ideas amidst the rubbish and visually his storytelling is quite interesting...
Enough. I don't think I am spoiling everyone when I said that The Village was absurd and laughably BAD.
First the good (there's very little of it, though): the actress who plays the blind girl is wonderful and very expressive. The look of the movie is for the most part lovely. Not brilliant, occasionally corny and ridiculous, but good for the most part. Shyalaman is still good at scaring us half to death when he wants to. The music is quite pretty.
But when you have a ridiculous plot, a screenplay that takes itself far too seriously and a director that appears to construct a whole movie based on his OMGSOCOOL cameo you end up wanting to throw things at the screen.
Mind you, I had no problems with the pacing. Or with the lack of gore and blood and creepiness. And yes, I did get the Oh So Deep And Meaningful Metaphors Shyalaman so kindly spelled out for me a dozen times (how some people can call this "subtlety" I don't know, and will never understand, all I know is that the apparently intelligent political reading was far too obvious) - it was still complete crap, and all the more crappy because in other hands, it might have worked. Because the concept was not at all bad, even if it seems laughably bad after watching it. But people, if you want to see about people running from the evils and the scariness of the real world only to find it in their little idyllic community... well just rent Dogville already, don't watch this stupid thing, made by a man that not only has no sense of humor but fancies himself the most insightful film-maker in Hollywood. Please.
In short? Some interesting images and a few good ideas completely ruined. Oh, and the plot twist that was apparently The Coolest and Most Surprising Thing Ever? I totally saw that one coming. And I have to say it's a pity to watch Shyalaman completely waste his talent as a director and his skill for suspense by making this sort of senseless rubbish that is nowhere as good as the stuff he could, and should be making. And good god, please force him to work with a decent screenwriter for a change. PLEASE.