Hilarious!! (Hang on. What do you mean it wasn't a comedy?)

Rating: 1/10 (8 August 2006)

I'm sorry, I just don't get the popularity of M Night Shyalaman. The Sixth Sense was a great film, but everything I've seen after that (and with the exception of Lady in the Water, that's everything since)has been either a load of horse puck. I thought that the guy was a one-trick pony, and I think this movie pretty much confirms it.
And so to the Village...
Well, it started off promisingly enough, with the mysterious sounds from the woods and concerned looks during a Village outdoor dinner, but the film was terrible. Not just the pseudo-olde-English (how did the actors keep a straight face when they were reciting their lines?) to the inexplicable ability of a blind girl to run 100 metres without colliding into a single object whilst in other scenes, she was fumbling about for a step on her own front porch. There were many surprise goofs, gaffes and scenes consisting of pure untainted cheese that was enough to set off the giggles, and once the first unintentionally funny moment crops up, the film just throws up more and more.
I guess what made the film so funny was the sincerity and dignity in which it was acted and delivered. Add to that prolonged moments of tedium and then BAM, someone says or does something so unutterably trite, clichéd, or inexplicably stupid that you just have to burst out laughing. It's like someone from the RSC reciting a soliloquy from Othello and accidentally letting one rip.
All said and done, though, I sussed the "Big denouement" of the film about 1/3rd of the way in, and that's saying something, cos normally, I'm a bit thick when it comes to twists. Maybe it's because it is expected of a Shyalaman film, or maybe, like "Signs", it's all been done before but presented in a way that gets movie snobs thinking that it's the first time that particular tale has been told.
It's a good trick, but nothing more. Shyalaman really needs to remember that a good plot is more than just a twist. If the build-up sucks, then the denouement is really going to lack a punch.