Director Shyamalan's right choice (Spoiler  ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN THE VILLAGE)

Rating: Null/10 (6 August 2004)

Spoiler  ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN THE VILLAGE
It hadn't occurred to me before seeing the movie how significant the title is. `The village' (or the retreat, the paradise, whatever you call it) is really all the movie is about. While there are many characters in the movie, it's the Village that is the real star.
Whether apparent or real, the twist is the main selling point of the movie. Any yet, in this department, The Village is very different from any of director Shyamalan's previous movies, which had either supernatural or extraterrestrial elements. In this one, the twist involves perfectly normal human activities.
Quite a few people find the twist unsatisfying, and other offer explanations and analysis of why it is so. My view is that Sixth Sense is unique, and there is no point comparing The Village, or any other of director MNS's movies, to Sixth Sense. If we really think back, we DIDN'T EXPECT a twist in Sixth Sense. That is why the shock was so traumatic. Since then, with every MNS we movie EXPECT a twist. That's the difference.
In The Village, I see MNS playing god on two levels. First of all the director almost invariably plays god. In addition, he is also playing a character in the movie that plays god, and here I must explain a theory that is different from what many others proffer. In playing his Hitchcock-like cameo role at the end as the guy in charge of the reserve, he is actually overseeing the security, and in turn the very viability, of the village (e.g. ensuring that no airplanes fly overhead, telling the young guard not to talk too much with the girl). I know that convention wisdom has it that he is bribed, but I like to picture him as one of them, the one who has taken up the post in the `outside world' (whether volunteered or by drawing lots) so that the secret existence of The Village is ensured. A more romantic proposition, isn't it?
The meticulous care and attention to details is there. A good example is how Ivy, by recognizing (by touch) the strangely shaped tree trunk stub, is able to lead `the creature' into falling to his death.
The script surely has plot holes, but the concept is noble. The cast is excellent. Joaquin Phoenix, who played such a flamboyant rascal in Buffalo Soldiers, shows his versatility here by playing the introvert Lucius. Bryce Dallas Howard has general consensus as a bright new star. Not much need be said about the solid supporting cast of William Hurt, Adrien Brody, Brendan Gleeson and Sigourney Weaver.
Director Shyamalan had made the right choice of gradually steering away from the twist-heavy approach to offer more on characters and story.