The Village (DVD, 2005, Widescreen)

See, I'm looking over the M. Night Shyamalan balance sheet of his works and the unfortunate "Lady in the Water" might have put him in the red. However, "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs" were good enough to override some of the stinkers and put him in the black if I use a weighted average.

That leaves the question, where does "The Village" fit into the Shyamalan package? Did it have enough redeeming qualities to help nudge the current P & L statement to healthy accounting standards? Is it a Shyma-lama-ding-dong or a nutrition bar? I'm not really sure.

It is the legendary M. Night Shymalan who has his own mystique and finely honed creativity. His films reflect an original voice and an intense effort at quality. "The Village" does convey this. It gets a couple of digits on the black side.

On the other hand, Shymalan has trained us to look for "the twist," the one he pulled off so spectacularly with "The Sixth Sense." I figured out the twist for "The Village" during the theatrical trailers. I was correct and I suspect a lot of other people were, too. "The twist" was too transparent, a couple of digits for the red side.

However, the film did have an interesting tone and feeling of impending menace. It builds on the theme of a village living as uneasy neighbors to some touchy creatures in the surrounding forest. The villagers have developed a very peaceful, civilized way of life mitigated only by the fear of doing something that might provoke the monsters to attack. The fear is palpable and works on that level. A couple more for the black side.

But....the characters, oy, the characters. The blind Ivy Walker played by Bryce Dallas Howard is the only one that you can connect to as a well-rounded character. She has a liveliness and intelligence that almost makes up for the rest. The other villagers, particularly William Hurt as her father and Joaquin Phoenix as the object of her affections, are cartoonishly stiff and talk with the ridiculous affections of a bad 1950's Bible flic. This really grates, several digits to the red side.

Several things don't add up:
(1) There is no good reason when you know the ending and the explaining particulars, why the village wasn't better stocked with medicine. You'd think the doctor would have ensured that;
(2) Why send the BLIND Ivy to get the medicine when several of the elders could have done it? This was unbelievably absurd; we know she is resourceful and brave, but come on. Relying on a blind girl on a mission like this where her speed is a factor in whether someone survives doesn't make a lick of sense;
(3) And then there is the scene where they lock up an individual they discover is dangerously psychotic by putting him on what amounts to the naughty chair in a room with several easy ways to get out. Were they waiting for Supernanny Jo Frost to deal with him? More red digits.

The most interesting part of the movie are the psychological undercurrents in the village that expose their vulnerability. People will be people; there's always a destructive element that creates unnecessary pain for the rest in spite of their best efforts. Some black digits.

If you're a Shymalan fan, this is a set completer, not so good but keeps the collection going. I'd give this a 2.5, maybe 3.0 with the above positive points considered. But, essentially, it's a Shyma-lama-ding-dong.