Its not big and its not clever

Rating: 1/10 (30 April 2009)

This chap has made a career out of what in modern times is considered a poor plot device that is indicative of a lack of writing skill, the deus ex machina or god from the machine. For those who aren't familiar with this it comes from Greek tragedy where a god character would be lowered onto the stage via a crane and would then solve a given plot line. Deus ex machina's meaning has expanded to include out of the blue resolutions to plot lines in modern fiction; this is what I tend to think of as a 'Dan dan Dahhhhhh' moment. It is a cheep trick and once you know that a particular writer/director is prone to it their work becomes very predictable.
In addition to using the same trick as many of shyamalan's other movies the village is also an excruciatingly dull, plodding affair filled with bland characters and incredibly silly plot holes but I think others have said all that needs to be said about that. What i really want to know is why everyone in the village talks like Yoda.
I don't comment here often but it really annoys me when this kind of thing gets a reputation for being clever. The Fountain is a clever movie that works on many different levels and is also extraordinarily beautiful in both story and look. Those of you who think the village has something to offer as a love story might want to take a look at The Fountain as an example of a movie that has real emotional depth.
In closing I would like to say that I think the deus ex machina can be a fun device in a popcorn movie like the statue of liberty appearing at the end of planet of the apes but it is not clever by any stretch. It's the kind of thing a bunch of stoned teenagers might come up with sitting around in a bedroom having one of those wouldn't it be cool if conversations.
P.S. The comparisons with Spielberg are not unfair in my view, a plot that takes place as a backdrop to a seen it all before family drama? Awfully familiar.