The Village: An astounding movie, but not in the way you expect

Expectations are high for director/screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan. He blew us away with The Sixth Sense, polarized audiences with the quirky Unbreakable, and made us gleefully jump in our seats with Signs.

Based on the previews of The Village, I anticipated it would be another great Shyamalan thriller, with yet another trademark Shyamalan surprise twist in the plot. I was surprised, all right, but not by the plot.

The Village is not very thrilling, and the big surprise ending we’ve come to expect from Shyamalan is really not very surprising. As disappointing as it is, however, The Village is still a good movie, if not great.

Shyamalan appears to be branching out, and I can’t wait to see where he goes next.

I can’t stand it when film critics spoil the movie by giving away key plot points, so there’s no way I’m going to do that to you. I do think it’s important, however, that you at least know what type of movie you’re about to drop a couple dimes on.

Occasionally, The Village tries to be scary, with limited success, but those moments are few and far between. Only remotely resembling what we presumed it would be, The Village is a romance, through and through. The “scary” scenes, believe it or not, are more of a distraction than anything else, only taking us away from what is otherwise a passionate love story.

Set in 19th century Pennsylvania, The Village is about a small community that never ventures outside of their territory, for fear of danger from some spooky creatures, known by the villagers as “those we do not speak of”. That’s really just the premise, though. The real story is the love that develops between soft-spoken but brave Lucius (Joaquin Pheonix) and candid, independent Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard).

Most people who know Shyamalan know him for the fact that all of his movies finish with a grand twist or revelation. What really sets him apart from his contemporaries, however, is the fact that while he makes thrillers, they’re all character-driven. Sure, Signs is a sci-fi thriller, and The Sixth Sense is a supernatural thriller, but first and foremost, they’re personal dramas. Genuine human emotion takes center-stage in all of his movies, and he’s proven to have an indisputable ability to bring out the very best of every actor he directs. The Village continues this trend, but to a much greater degree.

While walking out of the theater, I was most taken aback by the fact that I, a die-hard fan of Shyamalan’s work, was hoping he would let go of the thriller-with-a-surprise-ending thing. The Village would’ve been a much better movie without all the monsters in the woods. At the risk of being labeled a wuss, I have to admit there were a couple moments in The Village that made me want to shed some man-tears.

The acting is all-around superb, particularly from Sigourney Weaver (Lucius’ mother) and William Hurt (Ivy’s father). And more than ever before, Shyamalan is showing that his greatest talent as a director is building characters that the audience can empathize and identify with.

As terrific a job he did as director of The Village, though, Shyamalan has taken a huge stumble as a screenwriter. Besides being somewhat predictable and totally unbelievable, the premise is also an allegory for a post-9/11 America, but it’s just not convincing. Maybe Shyamalan should leave the politics to the likes of Micheal Moore.

The score by composer James Newton Howard is the best I’ve heard so far, this year, and that says a lot, considering how big a fan I am of Danny Elfman (Spiderman 2). The cinematography by Roger Deakins is spectacular. If you appreciate these kinds of things, The Village is well worth the price of admission, if only for the fact that it is both visually and aurally beautiful. If you don’t appreciate the subtleties of a good film….ehhhh. Maybe you should stay home and rent either The Sixth Sense or Signs, both of which have a much broader appeal and are just plain better movies than The Village.

If you’re feeling daring, try Shyamalan’s lesser-known movie – Unbreakable.Unbreakable: Who’da thunk Bruce Willis could act?

The black sheep of the Shyamalan family of films, Unbreakable is the worst-reviewed, and least popular (prior to The Village, anyway). It does, however, have a bit of a cult-following, and I happen to be a proud member of that cult. Unlike The Sixth Sense, and Signs, Unbreakable is not a thriller. Instead, it’s a deliberately-paced story about second-chances, with an imaginative twist. Great for some people; sleepy-time for others.

Bruce Willis stars, as David Dunn, a working-class dad, whose marriage is on the rocks. Having survived a train wreck, in which he is the only survivor, and without a scratch on his body, he is approached by Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a man with an extremely fragile skeleton. Price tries to convince Dunn that his survival of the wreck was not a coincidence, but that he just might be “unbreakable”. From there, we’re lead in a myriad of directions, until the final pieces of the puzzle are put together for a perfect fit.

Unbreakable is a superhero movie without a superhero or any real villain. When all is said and done, we’re able to sympathize with every character’s motivations. While not for everybody, I nevertheless suggest Unbreakable to everyone because you never know – you just might want to join the cult. (Joe Weindl)