Don't Go Into the Woods

My wife and I went to see The Village this afternoon. I've been looking forward to this movie since I saw the first teaser trailer almost a year ago. While I seldom get attached to movie directors, I've liked most of Shyamalan's work in the past, and I had high hopes for this latest work.

I was bitterly disappointed, even though the movie was well made and entertaining.

Does that make sense? It's like sitting down to dinner and expecting a medium rare ribeye, then getting served a garden salad instead. Yeah, the salad might be good, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

[SPOILER WARNING]

I loved Signs. It is one of my favorite thrillers simply because I didn't know squat about the story going in (very deliberate on my part) and was simply blown away by the fact that there actually *were* aliens in the cornfield. It was an awesome movie experience for me.

I tried the same thing with The Village. I deliberately avoided anything about the movie except for the occasional trailer in the theaters. I walked into the movie expecting a suspenseful thriller with possibly a supernatural overtone - exactly as the trailers led me to believe. But I was as deceived as the children of The Village. The lack of anything supernatural - the horrifyingly mundane explanation - left me wanting more. The cast, especially Joaquin Phoenix, was excellent, but in the end, my disappointment and the perceived plot holes left me unsatisfied.

Oh, well.