I see dull people: "The Village"

Seems to me most people consider M. Night Shyamalamalamalaman a mixed bag. "I loved 'The Sixth Sense' -- that Haley Joel was so cute! -- but what was the deal with that 'Unbreakable' movie?" they say. Hey, I used to ask the same thing. When I saw "Unbreakable," I thought it was deadly boring and have to confess I just didn't "get it." But even though I haven't seen it a second time, it was one of those rare movies I kept thinking about, and it's grown on me. Weird, I know.

Anyway, between those two movies and "Signs" -- which wasn't amazing but still OK -- I was willing to give M. "Don't call me Manoj" Night the benefit of the doubt before checking out "The Village." Now I'm not so sure.

Our story has an Amish-like community, apparently in the late 1800s, living in a village surrounded by woods inhabited by some sort of creatures. The villagers and the creatures apparently have some sort of truce, but that agreement apparently is becoming shaky, just as young troublemaker (relatively speaking) Joaquin Phoenix tells elders he wants to pass through the woods to get "medicines" in the "towns" for sick people in the village.

You may have noticed multiple cases of "apparently" above, and that's a good indication of the questions that come up during "The Village." Setting aside the whole "who are these people" thing, we are left to wonder what's in those woods, what's so great about those towns and why we should even care.

The whole thing is pretty heavy-handed, with elders such as William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver talking about "The Bad Color" and "Those We Do Not Speak Of" and "The Place We Do Not Go." Geez, lighten up people, and give these things a name while you're at it.

Meanwhile, Joaquin and Bryce Dallas Howard -- Ron Howard's daughter -- provide the spunkiness of youth, even if they're pretty damn boring, too. Generally, I like the former Leaf Phoenix, and I'm looking forward to the Johnny Cash movie. And Ronnie's daughter seems a solid actor as well. But I generally wanted to reach into the TV and smack them around a bit. C'mon, wake up!

Of course, there's a twist. If M. Night really wanted to break new ground, he would not have a twist. Another movie, perhaps. Anyway, this one isn't a big surprise -- I figured it out maybe 20 minutes before it was revealed -- and it's merely OK. Don't worry, I won't ruin it for you. All right, what the hell: Haley Joel Osment is Those We Do Not Speak Of. But you already knew that.