 Movie
Reviews
with Evelyn Gough
The Village
Produced, written and directed by M Night Shyamalan
 Joaquin Phoenix stars in The Village.
I'm a big fan of Agatha Christie. One summer, I read nearly all of her books - take my word for it, that's an awful lot of murders. By book number three, I was onto her and from then on, I could always guess who was the murderer.
Well, M Night Shyamalan, I'm onto you. We were only a quarter of the way through his latest thriller The Village when I'd worked out the big surprise twist ending. Am I a genius or is he predictable? Well, like the ending, I'm going to tell, so you'll have to make up your own mind.
After all, Shyamalan got me with The Sixth Sense, a fabulous film and definitely his finest work to date, but sorry, salivating fans will be to disappointed that The Village is no Sixth Sense. Looking on the bright side it is a lot better than Signs and Unbreakable (which isn't really saying much!)
Set in 1897, The Village is about... surprise surprise, a village situated deep within a creepy forest, which is crawling with, you guessed it, creepy creatures. Everyone in the village is naturally very scared of these monsters and live by an enforced set of rules to keep them safe. The number one rule is: never, ever enter the forest.
This creates a major problem if villagers require medicine and when a young child dies from an infection, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) confronts the elders requesting permission to leave the village and enter the forbidden woods. He knows the towns beyond the forest are equally dangerous but he's willing to risk it. Our brave young hero is a man of few words, but that hasn't stoped Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard), the blind daughter of town leader Edward Walker (William Hurt) from falling in love with him. Through a twist of fate it's Ivy who must venture beyond the safe perimeters of the village and face "those we don't speak of". On the up side, at least she can't see them.
I was more than ready to be totally creeped out by this film. There's nothing I like better than a supernatural thriller (preferably with plenty of zombie action) and The Village appeared to have potential, although disappointingly, there are no zombies - unless you count Joaquin Phoenix's performance.
What The Village has in abundance is spine-tingling atmosphere, a terrific sense of style and a chilling score. And of course Shyamalan's infamous twist. It's also riddled with plot holes and lacks a satisfying story because everything is simply leading to the big 'surprise' ending. Ultimately I was left feeling frustrated and cheated.
Come on M Night Shyamalan, enough with the twisty conclusions. Just give us a decent film. We know you're capable of it.
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