A fan of m. night's but not a fan of this film

Rating: 6/10 (4 August 2004)

The Village, the latest film from producer, director, writer and actor M. Night is a story about a small village surrounded by trees and mysterious creatures that roams the woods. The creatures and the villagers live in harmonious peace as long as the villages don't ever enter the woods. Ah, but something is a-foul here and, or course, that trust is broken.
So anyone that is familiar with M. Night's films, they know there is a twist in the film. When they reveal the twist in the films, I was thinking, so what. There is nothing shocking, nothing unique, in fact the film is rather boring. It is slow in the beginning, slow in the middle, had a couple of interesting points, but that is about it. I mean, you are going to be sitting there and really not care. They have the ever boring William Hurt who mistakes indifference for acting. Joaquim Phoenix repeats his same sense of acting he used in SIGNS in this film and while it seems fresh in SIGNS, he style is quite boring in this film. Sigourney Weaver is just a name in this film and completely wasted. She isn't require to do much but be a familiar face you have seen in films before. Adrian Brody does a good job, a bit over the top at times, but it's nice to see him getting more parts and he pulls his character off rather well. The bright spot, the star of the film is Ron Howard's daughter Bryce Dallas Howard. I guess those acting classes really paid off. She reminds me of a younger Mia Farrow.
But the main problem is the writing. It is so uninspiring and M. Night's gimmick is getting kind of old now. It is obvious that Alfred Hitchcock was a big influence on him in not only in film making, but now it becomes a game to see if you can spot the director. Still, I cannot fault the young director because he is trying and he is different. Unfortunately the advertisement for the Village is better than the actual movie. I just wish the film lived up to it's potential.