Beware the bad color...for it attracts Roger Ebert...

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2006)

THE VILLAGE 2004 (BRYCE HOWARD, JOAQUIN PHOENIX, WILLIAM HURT) DIRECTED BY: M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN ~ THE RUNDOWN: Shyamalan stays true to form in 2004, giving audiences around the world another stunning piece of style and originality. ~ First off, let me offer an oxymoron when looking at my rating and make clear the film is far from perfect. It's true, one could find several plot holes if looked for hard enough, but, then again, it IS just a movie. Also, the pacing is definitely off as the movie winds down too slowly. And, lastly, if you're a smartass just looking for a reason to blast this film to pieces from the start, you will find much of the dialogue laughable and may be monstrously harsh on a plot that isn't always sound. ~ But, my God, there's so much style to be found here. The detail and innovation of Shyamalan's craft is reminiscent of Kubrick's. M. Night creates a world within a world, a unique and completely captivating tale that has the ability to swamp those with imaginations as lively as his. The cinematography by Roger Deakins is pure art, and the Oscar nominated sound-score by James Newton Howard is eerily alluring, crawling deep inside of you and lingering far after the film is done. With only four major films in under five years under his belt, all of them widely successful, M. Night Shyamalan was able to achieve something the immensely overrated and under-talented Spielberg never did: an identifiable mark on each and every one of his movies, something I truly respect about the man. (Shyamalan that is) He goes against the grain and you can tell that he's more concerned about making movies with passion instead of Oscars in mind like Spielberg did with MUNICH~ Of course, THE VILLAGE is not just a case of style over substance. There's great entertainment to be found here, entertainment that may not be all that entertaining to today's more youthful audiences whose minds are constantly yearning for sex, excessive violence and Hollywood clichés, but rather a touching love story and some suspense that may just catch you off guard. I'll admit, the big twist at the end is something some people just won't go for, but for some, like myself and many others I know, it will cash in big time and may leave you breathless if you keep yourself vulnerable to it. And (forgive me if I'm being long-winded) but this movie has brains and deserves several viewings for those who will want to find out what Shyamalan's trying to say about human nature.