"The Island" Meets Scooby-Doo Meets Stephen King

Rating: 5/10 (31 January 2005)

As atmospheric thrillers go, M. Night Shyamalan's "TheVillage" is decidedly of the ho-hum variety. In fact, it actually is one of the more annoying films  among those that have a certain pedigree, some hint of promise  of 2004.
Set in 1897 Pennsylvania, we are transported to a time and place of such improbable existence that we are forthwith un-amused by the setting. We learn that the community is isolated to a degree particularly unfathomable as close to the turn of the century as is depicted. The East had been long crisscrossed with roads and commerce; no community in Pennsylvania (perhaps in other parts of Appalachia this may have been the case) was so remote. But for the sake of the film, let's consider that they are that isolated.
What comes to pass is that the town-folk have established a sort of truce with the horrifically-depicted denizens of the surrounding forest. A veritable wall has been built to demarcate the limits of the community; anything outside the line is certainly out-of-bounds. And the Elders have certainly taken great pains to point out that, basically, this is our turf and that is theirs, and as long as we respect that we are alright.
And right here we have to say the most engaging character of the entire film is William Hurt (as Edward Walker, it seems the Senior Elder). He really does capture a soft-spoken self, offers some calm in the storm that the village confronts and seems the only logical one through all the film. What message might be gleaned is channeled through Hurt and Bryce Dallas Howard (Ivy Walker).
The movie really is about those inside confronting the outside world. A swirl of events necessitates this. Rated an incredibly generous 6.5/10 on IMDb and a more appropriate 44% on the Tomatometer, M. Night Shyamalan himself notes in an interview (http://www.cinemaconfidential.com/news.php?id=0407301) that "I wanted to write a romance, a period romance. I wanted to go back to the1890s where people believed in love. It was hard to write because I had to remove all my sarcasm out of my writing. Today when we say things sarcasm is always there. In that era, when someone said, "I like you" it meant they liked you." And therein lies the problem with "The Village"  the writer has fallen for the always popular but wrong-headed notion that things were better in the old days. Hokum.
But you would have to watch it for yourself to determine if any of this is plausible; this is not really a film that had to be made. "The Village" is sort of Benchley's 1980 "The Island" meets Scooby-Doo meets Stephen King. And if any of that attracts your attention, this is the film for you.
Rating: Two Stars.