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 f you're having trouble sleeping, taking in a
showing of "The Village" will definitely fix that. While the
movie is beautifully photographed and well acted, the script is boring and
a massive letdown. Essentially, the film is like a chocolate Easter Bunny;
it looks great on the outside, but is hollow on the inside.
"The Village" takes us to a town called
Covington, an isolated place surrounded by mysterious woods. In these
woods, we are told, live mysterious creatures that have a tactile
agreement with the villagers -- the villages do not enter the woods, and
the creatures stay in the forest. But when frightening creature incursions
occur in the village and a violent stabbing occurs, it is ultimately left
up to one villager to overcome her fears and travel through the woods in
order to reach the city for vital medical supplies.
The cast, led by Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, and
Bryce Dallas Howard, perform with great emotional depth. They make us
believe every feeling they are experiencing and as a result we sympathize
with their plight. Adrien Brody ("The
Pianist") is truly amazing as the town simpleton driven to commit
a horribly violent act. Brody projects a kind of childlike innocence that
radiates from his character. The rest of the cast perform equally well,
but why they talk like the Amish on Quaaludes is anyone's guess. The set
decoration and costume design by Larry Dias and Ann Roth, respectively,
are excellent and look authentic. Roger Deakin's cinematography is a
visual feast, making the film gorgeous to look at even if you're not
enjoying it.
Saying the script is a problem is a massive understatement. It's mostly
boring, and when the origins of the creatures are revealed, it's a major
letdown. The type of "twist" ending M. Night Shyamalan has
become famous for comes across as ridiculous here, and is more likely to
elicit laughter than shock. A major part of the script, in which a blind
woman must navigate the forest by herself, is so far-fetched that it's not
even worth mentioning. Had it been presented differently, the sequences
could have been some of the most suspenseful of the entire movie. Instead,
they just seem unbelievable and end up slowing down the pace of the film.
As a director, Shyamalan ("Signs")
tries to invoke tension with camera angles, calculated zooms, and
lighting. Unfortunately, this only works for so long and the film
eventually falls into a plodding pace that will have the audience glancing
at their watches. If your script's boring, no amount of arty camera work
is going to hide it no matter how hard you try. And when will it dawn on
Shyamalan to stop putting himself in his movies? His cameos have stopped
being fun and are now just distracting. The best thing for Shyamalan to do
is to concentrate on his work behind the camera, not in front of it.
Sadly, "The Village" joins the list of summer blockbusters that
imploded upon impact. "The Village" is not particularly scary,
not very interesting, and not worth the price of admissions. Anyone with
low expectations might enjoy the film, but everyone else would be better
off renting the director's previous -- and far superior -- works. |
