August 2, 2004

Saturday, July 31, 3:01pm

Manchurian isn't a masterpiece, it's well done but none of the characters are as fascinating as Clarice or Lecter, just to take an example from Demme's earlier Oscar-winning film, and the plot isn't as thrilling. But it's not bad at all, and is certainly better than The Village, at least to hear most critics and fans talk about it. Ebert, for instance, in his one-star review:

Since I thought Shyamalan's Signs was passably-thrilling, in a teasing sort of way, until it completely fell apart with the cheesy special effects and stupid actions of the "surprise" finale, I don't think I'd have been very happy sitting through The Village, even though I didn't know what the big surprise was until I decided I didn't want to see it in theaters and started reading reviews this weekend.

Saturday, July 31, 4:48pm

Oh, I know what I was going to say. It's about The Village, which I'm assuming you've seen the trailers for, and therefore at least know the basic set up. If you haven't seen them, and you don't know anything about the movie, stop reading right now.  I'm not going to give any spoilers that aren't in the trailer until further down, where they'll require highlighting to read.

Anyway, my capsule summation of what we know from the trailers: Isolated village in the American northeast sometime in the 1800s, surrounded by a deep, dark forest that no one dares enter. There are monsters in the woods who are attracted to the color red, so the people of the village never wear or show it, and use yellow as a color to repulse the monsters. There has been a truce in which the people do not enter the woods and the monsters do not enter the village, but it appears to be ending since many doors were splashed with red blood one morning. The trailers show a very creepy, dark, moody setting, and you know it'll be more of the unseen peril that Shyamalan specializes in, ala the first 3/4 of Signs.

People are mostly disappointed by what the secret evil turns out to be, but really, how could Shyamalan have done it to satisfy anyone?  The options, as I see them:

1) There really are dangerous monsters just as the village elders say and the people must battle them or die or offer sacrifices or whatever.

2) The monsters aren't really monsters, they're just misunderstood creatures/aliens/spirits/whatever.

3) There are no monsters, just another village of people who have the same superstitions and fear yellow as the main village fears red.

4) It's a hoax of some sort, perpetrated by some of the villagers for unknown reasons.

4.5) It's a hoax of some sort, perpetrated by others outside the village for unknown reasons.

5) It's all a dream in the head of some character.

Problems:

1) Would be just another cheesy horror movie, with more build up than most.

2) Has promise, but it could be very cheesy, and maybe even one of those "the humans think they're in a village but they're really in an alien zoo" bottom of the creative barrel SciFi type things.

3) Would be silly and you'd be left wondering how such an improbable misunderstanding could go on for so long.

4) and 4.5) Would piss of a lot of people since they feel like a cheat.

5) Would make everyone very angry, since it's the cheesiest "Bobby Ewiing's death was all just a dream" plot twist ever.

My point here is that no matter what Shyamalan does, a large percentage of the viewers wouldn't like it and would feel cheated. He's really burdened by his history now, since everyone goes in expecting suspense and thrills and some sort of clever twist, and it's getting harder and harder for him to pull it off now that everyone expects it.

So what really happens?  Highlight the black box below to find out. Don't do it if you have any interest in seeing the movie, since you probably won't want to once you know the secret, and you won't enjoy it very much if you did.