An isolated village community has lived in peace with 'those they do not speak of' in the surrounding forest for many years. However, when one of the villagers crosses the boundary into the forbidden woods, it seems the truce has been broken, and the villagers are in great danger.

The early stages of The Village paint the scene of a remote self-sufficient village. It is clearly a life of simplicity and innocence. However, we begin to learn that beneath the surface, things are not quite so simple. The village is surrounded by woods, which are inhabited by fearsome creatures. The villagers have maintained a truce with the creatures for many years, by respecting the boundary between their village and the woods. However when skinned animals are discovered around the village, it seems someone has breached that boundary, and the truce may be over.

The villagers are made up of an impressive array of actors and actresses, including William Hurt (playing Edward Walker), Sigourney Weaver (playing Alice Hunt) and Brendan Gleeson (playing August Nicholson) as some of the village elders. Hurt's performance in particular is excellent, as the most influencial villager. Other notable performances include Adrien Brody, as Noah Percy, the unstable and mentally stunted son of another elder. Joaquin Phoenix also puts in a fine performance, as the quiet and mysterious Lucius Hunt, son of Alice Hunt (Weaver).

As the story unfolds, Lucius is injured. His young wife to be, Ivy Walker (daughter of Edward) requests permission from the elders to go through the forbidden woods to the towns to fetch medical supplies that might save his life. Such behaviour is not allowed. Many others have suffered or died in the village rather than breaching the boundary in search of medical supplies. Ivy herself lost her sight through disease. However, Ivy is granted permission by her father to attempt the trek, much to the dismay of some of the other elders. From here we follow Ivy on her quest through the woods, learning more of the creatures, and more secrets from the villagers' pasts.

The is no doubt that Shyamalan is very good at what he does. This is a suspenseful film, that despite being slow in places, keeps up a continual supply of intreguing mysteries and surprises to keep you interested. He is also extremely tight with the scare scenes, making each shock moment all the more effective. However, he does seem to have slightly shown his hand here, as the first of the scare scenes is almost identical to one from Signs. However, this doesn't matter too much in terms of the experience, as for each of the scare scenes, you know it is coming, but it is so superbly crafted that it gets you every time. However, it is a little disappointing to see it being rolled out quite so formalaically, so blatently the same as before.

The story line is sufficiently original and intreguing to keep your attention throughout the film, and of course Shyamalan gives you enough to ensure that you will come out the cinema with plenty to discuss with your fellow cinema go-ers, though its safe to say that the big reveal may not be to everyones tastes. However, he again provides an enjoyable cinema experience that will leave most feeling pretty satisfied.

You may look at the mark given to this film having read this far and wonder what is going on. On first consideration the Village doesn't do anything majorly wrong. In fact its cleary very good. There was always something stopping this good film being a great film, but it took some time pinnig down what exactly it was. One of the problems is the pace of the film. A lot of time in the early stages of the movie is dedicated to giving us an insight into village life, and to characterisation, yet we already quickly understand the village life, and the despite all the characterisation, we really only know two characters, Ivy and Lucius to any extent at all, and both of them are really still a mystery to us. However, the main disappointment with this film, is that it is extremely one dimensional. The only real driving force of the film is the story line, and the mysteries that unfold and their eventual explanation. This does render the lack of character understanding less important, but it doesn't give us anywhere else to go, or anything else to consider. The film is very simple, and we are only every following one line of the story - what is in the woods.

Overall, this is a good film, that will satisfy most who see it. Patrons will go in knowing roughly what to expect, and it is basically delivered. An enjoyable cinema experience, but just a little to shallow to be anything more.

Mark: 6/10
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