The Setup: A rural, isolated 19th-century village in Pennsylvania is under siege from nameless monsters who live in the surrounding woods. After one of the villagers, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix), is stabbed by Noah Percy (Adrien Brody), a young man who has clear developmental disabilities, the elders decide to send the blind daughter of the chief elder, Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard), to another village to procure the necessary medical supplies.
The Twist: The Village has a two-part twist. First of all, the monsters aren't real! The elders merely told everyone they were to keep anyone from venturing into the woods and leaving the village. Second of all, the elders send a blind girl on a dangerous mission because the movie actually takes place in modern times! When Ivy finally reaches the outskirts of the forest surrounding her village, she stumbles into a park ranger. Turns out the village was founded in the 1970s by people disillusioned by America and is hidden within a wildlife preserve owned by Ivy's extremely wealthy family.
The Verdict: I'll never understand who was able to convince Brody to sign onto this ridiculous role fresh off of his Oscar win for The Pianist, but I digress. This twist, though definitely shocking and out of left field, gets a few points knocked off its score simply because the cheap "gotcha" moment Shyamalan is going for makes the rest of the film feel like a pointless waste of time. It definitely makes more sense than The Happening, though.
