What color is your poncho?

Rating: 6/10 (19 August 2004)

Greetings again from the darkness. We can always count on director M. Night Shyamalan for two things: a twist and a cameo. Regretably, "The Village" has a much more interesting cameo than twist. Similar to "The Sixth Sense", Night once again flashes his fetish for the color RED. I must admit the best use of red in the movie is Bryce Dallas Howard's beautiful head of hair. She has a very unique look, but does a wonderful job of carrying this film. Shyamalan favorite Joaquin Phoenix (the artist formerly known as Leaf) does a decent job of playing the sensitive guy amongst a bunch of goofy self-imposed castaways. However, this is no 3 hour tour gone awry. These idiots actually designed the village and the twist will leave you scratching your head as if to say both "Why?" and "Is that it?". As usual, some nice camera work, but the dialogue borders on hoakey most of the time. Oscar winner Adrien Brody is downright creepy in his role and I am still not sure what to make of veterans William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver. Anyway, not much of a thriller and at times comical, though not purposefully so. Great violin work throughout.