It Takes THE VILLAGE To Tell A Story...

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2004)

If you think you're going to get me to tell you what the "twist" is in M. Night Shyamalan's latest enigma wrapped inside a mystery folded into a conundrum, forget it. In fact, there's not just one twist, but several smaller ones and one REALLY BIG one.
The problem most moviegoers and critics are having is that it's an old-fashioned twist, one that most writers and directors don't believe in using anymore. Except for once in a very great while. THE USUAL SUSPECTS had that kind of twist. As did MALICE. But then THE SIXTH SENSE found a new and exciting way to do it, and there's the rub. Now we expect "Night" to deliver something that spectacular with every movie he makes. Which was about like asking Orson Welles to top CITIZEN KANE every time he stepped behind a camera.
What was important to me is how his artistry at filmmaking is holding up, and if THE VILLAGE is proof, then he's still every bit as good at storytelling as Spielberg, if not a tad better. The photography, music and (most of the) set design couldn't have been better, and those performances...!!!
Keep your eye on Bryce Dallas Howard after this. Ron's little girl has a big career ahead of her, showing that Night still has an uncanny eye for new talent. And William Hurt? He and Sigourney Weaver haven't been in a movie together since "Eyewitness," and if anything, they make up for whatever shortcomings that experience had with their chemistry in this one.
Every single person kicked it up a notch, especially Joaquin, who is one of the most vulnerable yet masculine hunks to come along in a while as Lucius Hunt. But with all that said, and all the praise doled out, the big, standout performance you may be talking about belongs to one actor...Adrien Brody. The part seems so small at first, it makes you wonder why he would do this to follow up his spectacular work in THE PIANIST.

You will understand soon enough, when you realize that it's not the size of the role, but what Adrien does with it, that counts. And even he can't upstage the real star of THE VILLAGE...the Pennsylvania woods themselves. There is more dread and ominous creepiness in one shot of the woods surrounding The Village, than in the first thirty minutes of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. (They only WISH BWP had been this frightening.)
So without giving away a single detail, what can I tell you about how you'll like or hate this movie? Let me put it this way...don't go back and watch SIGNS or THE SIXTH SENSE or even UNBREAKABLE before seeing this.
Instead, go rent the original PLANET OF THE APES, and watch the whole thing, all the way to the ending we all know by now like the insides of our eyelids. If you are still knocked out by it, you will probably love THE VILLAGE. If you think it's the dumbest thing you've ever seen now, you may want to go see SPIDERMAN 2 or SHREK 2 instead