A waste of time

Rating: Null/10 (20 September 2004)

With a great story idea (MONSTERS IN THE WOODS, VILLAGERS DARE NOT GO IN!), a promising central character, (SHE'S BLIND!), and actors such as Joaquin Phoenix and Sigourney Weaver, it would take a special kind of director to screw it up. Step forward M Night Shyamalan, who amazingly enough, has made a film that has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and put his audience to sleep into the bargain. But how can this be? Admittedly, it still seems hard to believe. Shyamalan is a competent director, who, after the success of The Sixth Sense, had Hollywood, if not at his feet, certainly in that general area . His follow up 'Unbreakable' was a good effort. But his next film 'Signs' was distinctly average and now with 'The Village' his golden touch has certainly worn off. So what is The Village about? The story goes like this, in 'the village', a collection of people all live together with a simple rule, this being to never go into the woods that surround them. For in the woods are 'those we do not speak of', monsters who are attracted by the colour red, hence that colour being covered up in the village whenever it may appear. However one man, Lucius, wants to walk through the woods to get medical supplies. However when he is injured, it is up to his blind fiancé to step into the unknown and risk the wrath of the monsters. Where The Village fails is its cardinal sin that it commits. That is being boring to the viewer. The pace of the film crawls at an unbearably slow count, with no end in sight. This would be acceptable if there was a twist in its plot to compensate for your two hours of seat twitching, but its mild conclusion leaves you with one word on your lips, and it isn't 'classic', it's REFUND! Joaquin Phoenix, an excellent actor, is wasted in the role of Lucius, a man of mercifully few words. Sigourney Weaver is virtually ignored in her role as Alice, and Adrian Brody, as the simple minded Noah, plays perhaps the singly most annoying character EVER! It is left to Bryce Dallas Howard, as the brave blind girl Ivy, to turn in a performance of distinction. But Shyamalan, as director, fails to deliver any real suspense, with his monstrous woods being, well, a walk in the park to the bored viewer. The Village could have been a wonderful film, but it wasn't, and maybe all the critics who thought it was couldn't see this particular wood, for the trees