Saturday, July 31, 2004

MOVIE - THE VILLAGE - Review Rating $$ (OUT OF 10) STARRING - Joaquin Phoenix (Lucius Hunt), Bryce Dallas Howard (Ivy Walker), William Hurt (Edward Walker), Sigourney Weaver (Alice Hunt), Adrien Brody (Noah Percy), Judy Greer (Kitty Walker), Frank Collison (Victor) & Jesse Eisenberg (Jamison). DIRECTOR/WRITER - M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable & Signs) The Village is a complete failure for four reasons. 1) Shyamalan isn't fooling anyone anymore with his not everything is as it seems plot device which causes the audience to focus more on figuring out the surprise than the story itself; 2) The "cover" story comes off as stitled, corny, generally unbelieveable and just plain boring; 3) Shyamalan puts a lot less energy into his trade mark "Hitchcockian" off camera scary moments and; 4) most importantly, the secret, which is relatively easy to discern, is not particurlarly thought provoking. The one bright spot in the film is the performance of Bryce Dallas Howard. I predict we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the future. Shyamalan has gone to the same well once too often and has come up empty. The Village is a definite contender for Worst Movie of 2004. Running time - 120 minutes Alternative Reviews: Roger Ebert's Review Peter Travers / Rolling Stone Review Rotten Tomatoes Reviews 4:18:50 PM     |

© Copyright 2004 David Schwartz. Last update: 8/4/04; 3:04:07 PM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.