*May Contain Spoilers*

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2006)

Very enjoyable film, which surprised me because I had heard a fair bit of negative comment about it, and already knew the "punch-line" prior to viewing. The whole thing sounded silly and pointless, before I'd actually seen the story.
But it isn't just a "Shock Theater" episode, and it isn't about the ending. It's a very thoughtful study of human nature. The language is stiffly formal for most of the film, but that's a deliberate thing, part of what the community of the Village was founded to accomplish.
Every performance in the film is beautiful and compelling, especially Bryce Dallas Howard's much-talked about luminous portrayal of the blind - but very perceptive - Ivy. Adrien Brody as Noah is equally amazing, and aside from those two, it's hard to say anything but "WOW" about the cast. There was nothing but good acting throughout, and every contributor to the ensemble grabbed my attention whenever he or she had a line or a bit of "business." It truly can be described as an all-star cast.
What struck me most about the film, though, was how it portrayed the mechanics of fear, and how that emotion is used to control people, in the "Towns" - the outside world the villagers shun with such dread - and in the Village itself. There are indeed monsters, and the people of the Village try heroically to escape them, but there is no escape. There's a quote from the comic strip "Pogo": "We has seen the enemy, and they is us." (I think that's how it goes.) Human beings can never escape the monsters that threaten and terrify us, because we carry them with us wherever we go: they are us. That's the message I got, and it was delivered in an evocative, subtle way that made the film quite a treat for me.