An excellent concept wasted in a boring and dull soap opera

Rating: 4/10 (12 August 2013)

Typical of M. Night Shyamalan, 'The Village' is a film that tries to create a solid story in order to hit the viewer with a clever twist that totally changes the perception of the story you just saw.
In here we are introduced to an isolated village, which maintains itself thanks to a pact with the creatures who inhabit the surrounding woods. But when one young villager proposes to cross the woods to find medical supplies, the creatures start to act up...
The twist, whether you expected it or not, is very clever. It is easily the best thing in the entire movie; however, it becomes almost ridiculous and laughable when put it together with everything that led up to it.
'The Village' is slow, boring, and visually dull. The dialogue is terribly written, seeming more like a bad soap opera than a period film, and the acting is horrible. Adrien Brody is nothing more than an irritating caricature of the village idiot, acting like a retarded clown and destroying any and all scenes he is on. Joaquin Phoenix and Bryce Dallas Howard have no chemistry whatsoever, and their scenes together are cringe-worthy; even separated, Phoenix is apathetic most of the film and Howard seems to forget her character is blind from time to time. William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver are merely decent.
There is no atmosphere to go along with Shyamalan's tries at creating thrills. There are a lot of glaring logic problems, too: Shyamalan forces his characters to make nonsense decisions/actions, and sometimes disregard logic in order for some plot elements to work. The fact this is meant to be an allegory for terrorism or whatever (sincerely, some people look too far in order to justify crap) only makes this somewhat laughable.
This had the potential to be excellent, but ended up as a complete bore. The twist, the excellent soundtrack (one of the best I can remember of) and the way 'Scary Movie 4' spoofed it are the only favorable things I can think of in regards to Shyamalan's 'The Village'.