THE VILLAGE

Director: M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable)
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Adrien Brody, more

Dreary and plodding, here is a film that could have been terrifying. Instead we only get a moment or two of dread, surrounded by 2 hours of … not dread. There is also the big twist so expected in M. Night Shyamalan flicks. This movie would have been much better without the twist. It's well advertised and kind of silly. Instead of a nice creepy tale about the power of lies, or our leaders scaring the population for their own ends, we get a silly tale where modern people decided to live like it was the 19th century for no good reason I can discern. This twist was unnecessary. A decent film that should have been much more.

Standouts: Creepy pacing and script. Solid direction for a thriller.
Blowouts: The script tried much too hard to have the big twist Shymalan is known for.

Grade: B-