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The Village
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howards, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Adrien Brody, Brendan Gleeson and Judy Greer.
Written Produced and Directed by M. Night Shyamalan (he turns up in it as well in a cameo, bore yourself rigid and see
if you can spot him in a very 'reflective' role.
In an effort to mislead rabid fans and to prevent surprises from leaking out, filmmakers will occasionally come up with a
fake title ("Blue Harvest" and "A Boy's Life" later became "Return of the Jedi" and "E.T.",
for example) or fake plot details. Sometimes, they will even go so far as to come up with completely fake screenplays in order
to preserve the twists and turns and prevent them from coming up on the Internet. It was only a matter of time before the
inevitable happened and someone mixed up the screenplays and inadvertently produced and released a film based on the crappy
fake. At least I assume that's what happened here with M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" - unless, of course, he
actually believes that audiences are so eager to see his latest effort that they will willingly sit through this morass of
incoherent plotting, sloppy filmmaking and one of the crappest ("shock-ending") finales to ever appear on the screen.
Actually, seeing his arrogant poncing and self-aggrandisement on tv recently, he obviously believes he's a unique talent,
a notion far scarier than anything you will see during his film.
After a couple of early film failures that he would prefer you didn't know about, (including 1998's "Wide Awake"
- root it out and you'll understand why) Shyamalan hit the big time in 1999 with "The Sixth Sense", a film that
spooked many with its low-key shocks and infamous twist ending and annoyed others for being nothing more than an extended
"Twilight Zone" knock-off, though admittedly nicely acted, with a final twist that was obvious to anyone who had
actually been paying attention to what was going on.
He followed that up with his 2000 nouveau-superhero saga "Unbreakable", a film that, while a hit, wasn't the
mammoth success that "The Sixth Sense" was, even though it was a far more intriguing film -a side from an insulting
final scene that could have easily been eliminated if it weren't for Shyamalan's insistence that his films contain a twist
ending. For most of its running time, his next film, "Signs", was an absolutely gripping alien-invasion thriller
that relied more on mind games than elaborate special effects; however, it was undone by a concluding reel so idiotic (perhaps
the worst seen in an otherwise decent movie since "No Way Out") that it actually managed to piss away every bit
of audience goodwill that it had gained up until that point. However, it still made loads of money and apparently convinced
Shyamalan that he was the next Stephen King and that people would come out for his latest bag of goods, no matter how shabby,
on the strength of his name alone. That may well be true but if I had to compare his films to King's books, then "The
Sixth Sense" is "Carrie", "Unbreakable" is "The Shining" and "The Village" is
"Total PIsh" (maybe King hasn't penned that one yet!)
The film is set in a remote turn-of-the-century town which lives in mortal fear of "Those We Don't Speak Of",
unseen creatures that live in the surrounding woods; the colour red, for example, has been banned as it supposedly attracts
them. The monsters and the townspeople, led by William Hurt, have an understanding; the creatures won't venture into the town
and kill people and they, in turn, won't go into the woods. Of course, there is one young man, Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix), who
wants to travel beyond the border but is forbidden to by the town elders. Eventually, something happens and it is up to Ivy
(Bryce Dallas Howard, her father is famous baldy flick-helmer Ron), blind daughter of Hurt and the fiancee of Lucius, to set
off into the woods herself and discover what exactly is lurking out there. In a shocking twist, it turns out that..........
Of course, I wouldn't dream of revealing what happens (if for no other reason than you need a serious pair of specs if
you don't see it coming) other than to mention the fact that there is a twist, a fact that won't come as a surprise to anyone
even vaguely familiar with Shyamalan's work. The problem is that Shyamalan has gone to that particular well one time too many
and it works to the detriment of the film. Instead of getting sucked into observing both the daily life of the town and the
details of the plot, viewers are more likely to be suspicious from the word go, and spend all their time looking for clues
to the ending. Even that wouldn't be so bad if the finale, when it finally appeared, was genuinely worth it, but what we get
here is so hackneyed and obvious that it looks like a deleted scene from "Scary Movie 3".
Let me put it this way - when you read the paragraph describing the plot, you might have immediately taken a guess as
to what the finale might be, only to dismiss it as being far too obvious for anyone to hope to get away with. Unfortunately,
that is exactly the ending that he has provided and without even the grace to add a little something extra to keep people
from ripping out their seats in anger as the end credits roll.
And yet, I somehow think that some other film-maker (one not known for having a twist in every single film) might have
been able to get away with such a conclusion if the rest of the movie had been up to par. The worst thing about "The
Village" is that the first 100 minutes are just as bad as the final 10. In fact, the moment things begin to fall apart
is the very moment that the people begin to speak and we get a load of the 19th-century patois that Shyamalan has supplied
his actors. The dialogue is flowery, overly mannered and never sounds for a minute like it could have ever been uttered by
any human being. Instead, it sounds like someone with a tin ear for how people talk attempting to mimic "The Crucible"
and the results are laughable. An early scene in which Ivy's sister (Judy Greer) professes her own love for Lucius is so laughably
overwritten that the movie never recovers from it. Even actors as skilled as Phoenix, Hurt, Brendan Gleeson, Sigourney Weaver
and Adrien Brody (the latter playing someone who might have easily been called the village idiot if there weren't so many
others competing for the title, including Shyamalan himself) wind up looking foolish as they stand around uncomfortably while
trying to speak words that are literally unspeakable.
In interviews, Shyamalan has claimed that he came up with the idea for this film by fusing post-9/11 thoughts of isolationism
and loss with the suggestion of doing an adaptation of "Wuthering Heights". Frankly, as it plays, the script feels
more like an early draft of something he wrote a long time ago and pulled out of a drawer once he realised he could give Disney
anything as long as it was feature-length and had his name on it and they would give him millions in return.
Even on technical levels, "The Village" is surprisingly inept. Roger Deakins is one of the best cinematographers
alive but his work here is surprisingly clunky - the camera always seems to be in the wrong place. Even worse is the score
by James Newton Howard - not necessarily the music itself but how Shyamalan has chosen to present it. Instead of the subtle
and effective use of sound and, more importantly, silence, in his other films, Shyamalan has chosen to go the other way this
time by overlaying nearly every scene with music so obtrusive that it feels as if Spike Lee were put in charge of the final
sound mix. Even the quietest, character-driven dialogue scenes are overwhelmed by the music.
The only redeeming facet of "The Village" is the performance from Bryce Dallas Howard who makes her film debut
here. The part is pretty much unplayable - the role of the noble, pure, blind girl who nevertheless manages to see all that
is going on - she somehow makes it work and when the story begins to focus on her in the second half, it is the one smart
move in a film otherwise filled to the brim with crap ones. Other than that, "The Village" is an enraging load of
nonsense that is made all the worse by Shyamalan's apparent delusion that he has created something extraordinary. Well, say
one thing for him, the man has pride - and I suspect that once the word on this film gets out, his fall will be coming right
on schedule. Perhaps this will jolt him out of his rut and force him to change his approach - no more twist endings would
be a good start to prove that he is the master filmmaker that he clearly thinks himself to be.
The Bourne Supremacy
Cast: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Gabriel Mann, Joan Allen.
Directed by Paul Greengrass.
Written by Tony Gilroy.
Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum.
Produced by Frank Marshall, Patrick Crowley, and Paul L. Sandberg.
Running Time: 108 minutes.
In visiting the dark world of author Robert Ludlum's "Bourne" trilogy, director Paul Greengrass is a new addition
to the crew to the series (the first "Bourne" film having been directed by Doug Liman), but Greengrass seems to
fill the role with ease, bringing back in full force the familiar dark and dirty European feel of the first film.
Often from an American perspective, Europe seems to be portrayed as dark and dirty, something that's especially prevalent
in Supremacy as the film's creators have passed over the more picturesque vistas of the cities depicted in the film in favour
of dirty streets and graffiti-ridden walls. But with the genre of this film almost requiring a dark and shady look (espionage
is always dark and shady, is it not?), each of the technical elements of the film seem created with a single goal in mind:
that the characters be bathed in shadow and darkness. From the moment Jason Bourne leaves the sunny climes of India, grit
and dirt cover him and the rest the characters. Even when he is in a gorgeous location on the coast of Italy, there's still
a sense of grime and coarseness blanketing the scenes.
Like "Bloody Sunday", the director's outstanding 2002 film, "The Bourne Supremacy" is filled to the
gills with weaving and shaky cinematographic moves. This buoyant and fluid method of photography will not please everyone.
The visual discomfort a viewer might receive from the look of the cinematography might eventually turn into appreciation though
as the physical details of the film, like the dirty European cities, dark costuming, and beaten-up cars, really require a
primitive, raw approach to the camera work.
The cinematography is bolstered by an excellent grasp of action-sequence editing by editors Richard Pearson and Christopher
Rouse. During the final car chase scene in particular, the editors have a field day with ripping into the audience with hundreds
of cuts in just minutes of film time. With much of the second act of the film unfolding in a more methodical and quietly intense
manner, this final climactic sequence is so rip roaring and breakneck that it's almost unbearable (a harsh word, but it's
a compliment).
But where would the film be without a competent cast? Supremacy is fortunate to boast a cast who seem to delve deeper
into their characters than one would typically see in an action film. The appeal of the Bourne world in feature film form
is an emphasis on both the physical and the mental. The action sequences are quick and demanding and the talkative bits reveal
more than simply a character's location in the plot.
The screenwriter, Tony Gilroy, who was also the pen behind the Identity adaptation, has so far brought the twists and
turns of each novel into two manageable screenplays. The plot isn't simple and because Jason Bourne has the specific dilemma
of amnesia plaguing him, his trek to figure out why the CIA has started hunting him again is not his sole problem. In the
true spirit of the modern human condition, Jason Bourne has "issues" that he must deal with concurrently while he
navigates the plot.
Coming back for a second round as the title character, Matt Damon again slips easily into the warped mind of Jason Bourne
and gives actors in films that would be considered "thinkers" a run for their money. Supremacy is a thrilling action
film, but the requisite single-track characters are entirely missing from the story. Joan Allen, playing a CIA executive on
a mission to bring Damon to justice, is a proper foe for rogue agent Bourne, and her path over the course of the film is not
nearly so cut and dried as one may expect from her type of character. How many antagonists in how many films have been ruled
by one emotion and been set on a singular path to destroy or intercept the protagonist or main character of the story? Perhaps
the intricate source materials, Robert Ludlum’s novels, were especially suitable for feature film adaptation. Whatever
the case, Allen grips the role with an iron grip and is a formidable presence. As is Brian Cox, playing another CIA executive
who seems to be bent on bringing Bourne to an early grave rather than to justice. Cox and Allen project and interesting amount
of emotion and character onto their faces in addition to the inflection their dialogue, just as Matt Damon does.
The musical score, a final piece of the feature film puzzle, is deftly inserted into the movie's soundtrack, with composer
John Powell reprising his job from the first film. Using again the modern, trance-inspired cues of the first movie, Powell
kicks his orchestra up a giant notch and takes those cues further and faster than one might have thought possible. Far from
simply copying the tracks of the first film and adding slight variations and/or extensions onto them, Powell takes his original
music and slaps it into action with a fierce tempo and the volume set on slam.
Character, story, plot, cinematography, editing, music, the elements are all crafted into a tightly wound movie that sinks
its claws into the audience and refuses to release its hold until the final credits start rolling. The now nearly signature
car chases are easily labelled incredible, as is nearly every element of the film.
An anguished and intense performance from lead Matt Damon would be sufficient in most cases to ground a less accomplished
film, but with clever filmmaking surrounding him at every turn, The Bourne Supremacy can't help but succeed on every level.
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