No Spoilers...Just Spoiled!

Rating: 4/10 (29 January 2005)

The Village was immensely disappointing on many levels for me. Shamalayan does a decent job with the camera. I can't fault his work with the camera too much, but the story he used for this film is anything BUT mysterious. I mean the ending is wildly predictable if you have a brain. Think about it...could there have been any other resolution. No. And so...I knew the "big" secret way too early. The film had no punch for me at all. But that aside, the pacing for this film was real slow. Virtually nothing happens in this village. I know the village people(no cop or construction worker here) were meant to seem Amish-like, but something a little more "meaty" could have happened. The music gave you a warning that something interesting was going to happen with a thunderous boom...only to see something like a shadow in the grass. The acting isn't bad. It is pretty decent with Ron Howard's daughter Bryce doing a pretty good job in the lead. Sigourney Weaver, Brendan Gleason, and William Hurt all do workmanlike jobs. Joaquin Phoenix was unimpressive and Adrian Brody as the village idiot was not terribly believable. But like the film...their performances really go nowhere. I will not discuss the plot in any great detail, because the slightest detail given and the "gig" is up. All I remember saying after the film was something to the effect that I was very glad I did not pay $7.50 to see this film. The idea the film has, if it had been handled differently, might have been the catalyst for a real good story about...well, I cannot say. But it could have been better. you must take my word.