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Set in rural Pennsylvania in 1897, this is the story of the small village of Covington (population 60) surrounded by a woods inhabited by a race of "mythical creatures," and the romance that blossoms between Kitty (Judy Greer), the daughter of the town's leader (William Hurt), and Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix), a young man who questions the policy of keeping Covington's citizens completely confined to the village.
M. Night Shyamalan, "The Village," suffers disappointingly from the progressively diminishing returns - and shocks - that have followed his first, the sublime "The Sixth Sense." And it doesn't exactly take a village to guess his trademark "surprise" ending - I did - by carefully watching the very first scene. A gifted director and visual stylist, M. Night Shyamalan's scripts sadly have gotten progressively clunkier, from "Unbreakable" to "Signs."
Now, with "The Village," M. Night Shyamalan depicts a late 19th-century society of language and behavior that are way more stilted than required by the conventions of the period.
Worse, the scares are very strictly rationed in what amounts to a heavy-handed political allegory about leaders who - without getting into any details - stir up fear in the village (and restrict freedoms) to further their agenda in the village. In case anyone misses M. Night Shyamalan's target, the chief leader's name is Walker - and the director goes to extraordinary lengths to mention the name, which also happens to be the middle name of a contemporary politician. Walker, played with great gravity and assurance by a bewhiskered William Hurt, is an elder in a remote village.
A stone on a newly dug village grave identifies the year as 1897.
Walker teaches his young charges in the village that they must not venture beyond the village borders, which are marked with yellow banners that are apparently meant to evoke the Homeland Security's color-coded alerts. For beyond the valley in which they live, Walker claims, there are mysterious and murderous creatures with whom the villagers have forged a tenuous truce.
But a young man named Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) has a burning desire - and the courage - to venture into the woods beyond the village. And when the simple-minded Noah (Adrien Brody) actually does transgress, the village's animals start turning up skinned - and there is a brief sighting of a red-robed creature, prompting the guard in the watch tower to sound the alarm bell.
The village's buildings are marked overnight with red, a color the villagers shun for fear of provoking the creatures. When one of these two young men - rivals for the hand of Walker's sweet and pure blind daughter, Ivy, who loves but one - is mortally wounded, Walker reluctantly sends Ivy into the woods from the village to bring back medicine.
Suffice it to say the spunky Ivy is uniquely qualified for the mission, in which one of the creatures makes the only other - considerably less than terrifying - appearance in the movie "The Village".
Ivy is played by Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard's freckled daughter, who is impressive in her screen debut in "The Village" - projecting strength, vulnerability and romantic passion in what amounts to the movie's leading role. But except for William Hurt's Walker, Ivy is the only well-defined character in a movie that pretty much squanders the talents of Adrien Brody, Joaquin Phoenix and a blue-chip supporting cast that includes such pros as Brendan Gleeson and Cherry Jones.
Sigourney Weaver is given little to do as Lucius' mother, in "The Village," though she still shows great chemistry in her few scenes with William Hurt, with whom she hasn't acted on-screen since 1981's "Eyewitness."
"The Village" pours on creepy atmosphere, but this dud is too intent on delivering its liberal "message" to actually deliver the kinds of scares it promises in the terrific trailer. |
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Click the actor or director's name to view a list of their other titles
Starring:
Bryce Dallas Howard | Joaquin Phoenix | Adrien Brody | William Hurt | Sigourney Weaver | Brendan Gleeson | Cherry Jones | Celia Weston CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL CAST LIST
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| Directed By:
M. Night Shyamalan |
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| Technical Information: |
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| Genre:
Drama, Thriller/Suspense |
| Release Date:
October 1, 2008 |
| Format: Region 1 |
| Rating:
PG-13 |
| Year:
2004 |
| Regional Coding:
R1:
Will only play on North American Region 1 or multi-region DVD players.
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| Number of Discs:
1 |
| Subtitles:
French, Spanish |
| Screen Ratio:
Full Screen Edition - 1.33:1 |
| Sound System:
English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX) |
| Running Time:
120 minutes |
| Studio:
Buena Vista
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| UPC/Barcode Number:
786936242850 |
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Closed-Captioned: Yes |
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Color: Yes |
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THX Certified: Yes |
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| Special Features: |
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Scene Access
Deleted Scenes Introduced by the Director M. Night Shyamalan
Deconstructing The Village: The Making of the Movie
Bryce's Diary
M. Night Home Movie
Production Photo Gallery
THX Certified
Interactive Menus |
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