Many fans now go into writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's spine-tingling thrillers hoping to outsmart his celebrated plot twists. His latest, The Village, plays into this expectation, leaving trace insinuations everywhere that add curious touches of character while leading overly imaginative viewers in the wrong direction. Bryce Dallas Howard makes a mesmerizing debut as a plucky, spirited, near-blind young woman in a 19th-century community that is willfully content in its forceful isolation away from petrifying mythical creatures that haunt the surrounding woods. Howard's (daughter of director Ron) visceral performance is perfectly coupled with Shyamalan's gift for chills as the story unfolds in sometimes startling ways, setting in motion a tragedy revealing a terrible secret that begets a daring journey into the forest, leading to a possible discovery that could shatter the village's sheltered existence. While Shyamalan displays a mastery of mood and metaphor, without Howard's performance and the distraction of tension-sustaining twists, this film would seem simplistic and perhaps a little silly (especially when the climax is undermined by an expository cutaway scene, mapping out the ending's larger meaning as if explaining it to a child). Costarring Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Brendan Gleeson, and Adrien Brody, The Village is a strong optional purchase. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include the six-segment “making-of” featurette “Deconstructing The Village,” four deleted scenes with intros and outros by writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, the five-minute segment “Bryce's Diary” featuring costar Bryce Dallas Howard narrating her behind-the-scenes observations over a montage (5 min.), the three-minute segment “M. Night's Home Movie” featuring an intro by Shyamalan, a production photo gallery with a slideshow viewing option, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a somewhat disappointing thriller.] (R. Blackwelder)
The Village
Touchstone, 108 min., PG-13, VHS: $24.99, DVD: $29.99, Jan. 11 Volume 20, Issue 1
The Village
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