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| Village, The |
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  (5/10)
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Runtime: 120 |
| Public Rating: 7.73 (212 votes) |
Director: M. Night Shyamalan |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Thriller/Drama |
Year: 2004 |
| Writer(s): M. Night Shyamalan |
| Distributor: Touchstone Pictures |
| Reviewed by: Nate Anderson |
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Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Howard, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Brendan Gleeson, Michael Pitt, Adrien Brody
The Village must have one of the best casts of the year, in one of the most dissapointing films of the year. The story focuses on a close knit group of people living in an isolated village surrounded by woods. We quickly find out that the residents of the village don't venture into the woods because it is inhabited by vicious creatures. Of course, since this film is from the director of The Sixth Sense and Signs, we know that all is not what it seems.
Although the specific year is not given, the village seems to be set up like a Puritanical colony, where a group of Elders govern the area. Soon livestock belonging to the colony is appearing around the grounds, dead and skinned. While the Elders are hesitant to admit it, they feel that it is a sign from the creatures that their long truce is about to end.
Caught up in the middle of this is a romance between Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) and Ivy (Bryce Howard), who is blind. As the tension mounts in the village, they grow closer, when Lucius admits that he worries about her safety above all else.
There is also the group of elders, who seem to be the parents of the younger characters. They fear the outside world and prefer to stay in their own secluded little area. Even when the younger residents, namely Lucius, want to venture into the woods, and ultimately past it, the elders deny it.
To say much more would ruin the surprises of the film. I will say that there are some decent ones in the film, but nothing on the level of The Sixth Sense nor are the thrills as good as they were in Signs. There are some good performances, especially on the parts of William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver. Joaquin Phoenix, like in Signs seems stiff and unemotional for the most part.
The overall tone of the film is quite somber, overcast and cold. It reminded me in some ways of Unbreakable, in the way that everything was lit very darkly and everything was kept super-serious and depressing. It is very similar here, with similar results in a film that could work, but ultimately doesn't and by the end becomes pointless.
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