''The Village'' (2004 movie)- Review

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan 
Released: 2004
Country: United States

Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Drama

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Review

M. Night Shyamalan's ''The Village'' started incredibly well. The visuals were excellent, the cinematography was fascinating, the music was WONDERFUL, and the story was overall engrossing. The presentation remains wonderful throughout the film... Only, the story just gets far less interesting, far less engrossing, far less nice. What we guessed was a horror story, turns into something else. While the acting is absolutely excellent, the storytelling and the screenplay wasn't satisfactory. That being said, The Village is a really well made film, with excellent score and cinematography, but the story gets uninteresting near the middle of the film.

The Village is set in 1897. A group of people live in an isolated village. The village, surrounded by a mysterious and scary woods, has no connection with the neighboring town. There are mysterious and scary creatures living in the woods. For this reason, nobody dares, nor is allowed, to go to the woods. The people live with peace and harmony, and the constant fear of the creatures living in the wood.

Our protagonist is a blind girl, Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard). She is a kind, sweet young woman. Her fiance is Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix), who has a deep wish to cross the woods one day, and reach the town. One day, the crazy man of the village, Noah (Adrien Brody), stabs Lucius, apparently because of jealously (apparently, he loves Ivy). 

Lucius, after the incident, is injured and may die without immediate treatment... But the medicines are not available in the village. To save the life of Lucius, Ivy decides to cross the wood and go to the town herself, to get the medicines.

Then a shocking twist is revealed that almost changes the entire story. I won't say that the twist was something bad. I must admit that it was something very well thought of. But, ultimately, it wasn't very satisfying.

You can see beautiful images and scenes throughout the film. At the very beginning, scenes like the villagers doing their regular works, are very well shot and presented. The scenes in the village is well executed and beautifully designed. It was a visual beauty. And the music, oh, it was beautiful. I can't deny how well made the film is.

But what lacks is the storytelling. It was really very engrossing at the beginning, but later I somehow lost interest. The film has a nice (and sweet) story that could have been told in a better (and fast) way. Ultimately, I didn't think it was a bad film. The beautiful cinematography, the beautiful music, the excellent acting, all these cannot be denied. It starts as a horror film, but after the twist is revealed near the middle, I didn't have an idea what genre I should call it. I think it should be rather called a drama/mystery.

2.5 out of 5