The Village

If there’s one thing that can be said about M. Night Shyamalan, it’s that the writer-producer-director is full of surprises. That should be fairly obvious to anyone who’s seen his last three movies -- 1999’s The Sixth Sense, 2000’s Unbreakable and 2002’s Signs -- all of which have grossed a combined $1.3 billion worldwide. Though they all provided varying degrees of stellar performances, well-written dialogue and downright intense direction (with The Sixth Sense being the best of the lot), they are probably best known for their Twilight Zone-style surprise endings that made moviegoers slap their heads with disbelief.

To that extent, Shyamalan’s latest film, The Village, is no exception -- and that’s both the best thing and the worst thing that can be said about it. As usual, the 33-year-old wunderkind sets an effective mood that elicits genuine edge-of-your-seat thrills, but this time around, he reaches a little too far into his bag of tricks for a totally preposterous (yet strangely predictable) conclusion that completely blows the entire film. As a result, not only does The Village crumble under the weight of a pretty ridiculous foundation, but if you thought that the pretentious superhero fable Unbreakable polarized moviegoers, then wait ‘til you see what happens when The Village gets pillaged by poor word of mouth.

The inhabitants of a late nineteenth century village may seem like they’re living an idyllic lifestyle, but all is not well beneath the surface. After years of honoring an uneasy alliance with the mysterious creatures that lurk within the woods surrounding them, the townspeople suspect that their truce is about to come to a horrifying end. When soft-spoken Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) defies the town elders and steps beyond the confines of the village and into the forbidden unknown, his curious actions lead to life-threatening results. Now, the fate of the village lies in the hands of Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard), a beautiful blind woman who must act quickly before the binding truce unravels with deadly consequences.

With no A-list stars like Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson to kick around in his latest film, the success of The Village will have to ride on the coattails of Shyalaman’s name alone. That’s exactly what distributor Disney is counting on, thanks to the filmmaker’s rare brand name appeal and box office track record. On the plus side, his screenplay is certainly timely and resonant with metaphors of post-9/11 fear and isolationism, and as usual, his uncanny knack for directing moody suspense will no doubt scare moviegoers out of their seats.

The problem is that where The Sixth Sense was an awesome thriller that just so happened to catch moviegoers by surprise with a killer ending, The Village tries way too hard and is ultimately killed by its reliance on the surprise ending. Instead of just watching the film and appreciating it for what it is, many moviegoers may become so pre-occupied with trying to figure out what the big twist is that they set ridiculously high expectations that no payoff can possibly meet. That’s certainly the case here, and without giving too much away, let’s just say that the surprise ending here will ultimately force moviegoers to think back on the whole film and realize just how absurd it all really is.

That’s too bad, because if nothing else, The Village features a spellbinding breakout performance from newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard. Though the daughter of producer-director Ron Howard lays it on a little thick at times, there’s no denying that she possesses a mystical screen presence that outshines her talented co-stars (much like Haley Joel Osment stole The Sixth Sense from Bruce Willis). Perhaps that’s because other than an understated performance by Joaquin Phoenix and a creepy turn by Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, there’s little for the rest of cast -- including William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Cherry Jones -- to do except stand around in stuffy period costumes and deliver pretentious dialogue.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is how weak The Village really is, especially when compared to Shyamalan’s previous thrillers. It’s hard to go any further without spoiling the turns that the film takes (and there are many), but suffice to say that Shyamalan should take the opportunity to do something different next time around before he digs himself into a deeper hole. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with taking a page from the likes of Hitchcock and Serling, but after all his success, doesn’t Shyamalan deserve better than to simply be known as the guy with the surprise endings?