Here's the twist: This film's a terrible bore

Rating: 2/10 (4 August 2004)

Someone forgot to tell writer cum director M. Night Shyamalan that creepy, horror movies should be creepy and frightening.
Despite an intriguing premise, "The Village" is one of the most tepid, slow-moving, humorless and uninspiring horrors I have seen in a very long time. Forget being scared; you're likely be snoozing during the few moments that pass for scary in this film because much of it's such a yawn.
The blame falls squarely on Shyamalan. He might be a skilled director, but he needs to hire a talented screenwriter to pen his stories. He's obviously so enamored by his own writing that he fails to realize his script's flimsy drivel, at best. Apparently none of his actors - and there are some good ones (William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Sigourney Weaver and Brendon Gleeson) - bothered to point out the script's weak construction and incredible banality.
I don't mind Shyamalan taking an hour or so to set up his story. But did that hour have to be so tedious and not contain anything truly unnerving? He's a one-trick pony and proves it, yet again. Everyone knows his movies have a major twist at the end. That's all there is to his work and he lacks the courage to change. Then again, why should he if audiences keep admiring his work not realizing it's the same, stale formula over and over again?
He aims to prey on our fear of the unknown, to evoke eeriness much in the vein of Hitchcock or Henri-Georges Clouzot. Great idea. But Shyamalan's become so obvious, there's little point in our investing anything in his characters. Why should we? We know what's coming. Hitchcock and Clouzot toyed with our feelings and emotions; they gave us stories and monsters to believe in and we bought into their premises. Their films were genuinely creepy and suspenseful.
Shyamalan's found a formula that worked in "The Sixth Sense" - I wasn't a huge fan of the film, but it showed promise - and now simply retreads the same tired blueprint that essentially destroys any suspense in his stories.
Here, he telegraphs the twist so early, you'd be hard-pressed not to figure it out. Even if you don't, it's so terribly ho-hum you're astonished he's that shallow and unoriginal a writer. There's his customary cameo, a la Hitchcock, and Shyamalan even gives himself a line of dialogue to justify his story's horrendously hokey premise.
Young Bryce Dallas Howard brings an honesty to her performance that, frankly, is unwarranted and wasted in this movie. Don't spend much time thinking about Brody's character. He completely defies logic.
The true mystery here is what possessed Hurt, Weaver and Gleeson to star in this film. Hurt does his best somnambulist impression, while Weaver and Gleeson get to do nothing substantial. Extras could have played their roles without diminishing the film any.
"The Village" contains nothing spine-chilling or suspenseful anywhere. There's one honestly surprising moment - not frightening, but dramatic and well executed. Another scene promised much, but Shyamalan doesn't have faith in his actors to let it to linger a few seconds longer. It's a shame because Howard's vulnerability hooked us. Shyamalan deflates the moment by cutting away too early, promptly pumping up the overwrought violin score and resorting to pretentious slow-motion photography.
Shyamalan's teetering on being tagged a hack. I don't doubt he's a talented chap. But if he wants to prove he's a good suspense filmmaker, not someone who simply recycles a hackneyed formula, he'll have to make a scary film that doesn't rely on humdrum storytelling techniques and cheap tricks that have long since worn out their novelty.