M. Night's back on track...Thank Goodness!!

Rating: 8/10 (23 July 2005)

Much better than "Signs"...a little better than "Unbreakable"...but not as good as "Sixth Sense"...Dunst would've done an admirable job in the new girl's role, but Dallas gives an excellent performance...her only apparent problem was a minor technical one, and only early in the film--making her eyes seem sightless by being "unfocused"...she seemed to be looking straight at people in the early going, but by the time Phoenix' character was attacked, she had it licked...
Shyalaman once again does a great job of leading you to make certain assumptions and take certain things for granted...a little more development on the elder's "lives" before they settled the village might've added a bit more contrast and "twist" to the storyline, but the revelation itself essentially provides contrast enough...the only thing seemingly overdone...and it seemed as if it were a last minute rewrite...was the supposed "buyoff" of the FAA to disallow overhead flights...again, the realization of what the "village" really was had clearly been established...additional explanation seemed a little contrived to me...
Phoenix' role was supposedly written for him; I had read where Johnny Depp was offered the role but backed out when he learned of Shyalaman's quirkiness (THAT certainly seems a bit like the pot calling the kettle black)...either way, Phoenix makes the role his...Hurt is excellent as the village leader, and Weaver is startlingly authentic as a very plain appearing 18th century puritan...a major role departure for her in every sense...
Let's hope M. Night continues in this genre...Hitchcock has nothing to be worried about yet...but Shyalaman appears back on the right track after the train wreck that was "Signs"...oh, wait...that was "Unbreakable", wasn't it???