M. Night Shyamalan has brought us some incredible movies in the past, movies that have peaked out interest in the unknown, movies that have given us hope that a hero exists in the most unlikely of places, and even that there are no coincidences in life. Now, in his fourth movie, Shyamalan shows us that peace can come at a great price, and sacrifices must be made to preserve this peace.
Set the Wayback Machine to the colonial 1890’s in Covington, Pennsylvania. A beautiful valley with a peaceful people, living the simple life. Everyone knows everyone else, and everybody is peaceful and happy. However, a few rules exist. Nobody is to keep secrets, the color red is never to be seen, worn, or used, and “those we don’t speak about” should never be mentioned, unless warning of their intrusion. A truce has lasted as long as the town has; simply, the “people we don’t speak about” do not enter the valley and the town, and the townsfolk do not enter the forest. The creatures seem to be attracted to the color red, as they wear it when they are seen; therefore red is not to exist in town.
Love, however, seems to be abundant in this little township. For Lucius Hunt (Signs‘ Joaquin Phoenix), love seems to be sparse. As a simple blacksmith, he does not speak his mind as the others do, and is frowned upon for not doing so. However, there is one who appears to have love for this lone tradesman. Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard), the blind younger daughter of the lead town elder (Lost In Space’s William Hurt), has feelings for Lucius. Lucius finally returns Ivy’s love, and they are to be wed. However, Noah Percy (Adrien Brody) is a good friend of Ivy’s, and is a bit mentally deranged. Unknowing of what he does, he severely injures Lucius who now needs medical supplies from the towns beyond the forest, but no person has ever been permitted to enter the forest. It becomes the burden of Ivy, driven by love, to enter the forest and obtain the supplies necessary to keep her lover alive.
Shyamalan seems to have an excellent way of chilling us to the bone. In The Sixth Sense, he chilled us when we find that Bruce Willis was actually a ghost. In Unbreakable we find that Samuel L. Jackson’s character killed all those people just to find a real-life “superhero”, we all were astounded. Everyone had their eyes glued to the screen to catch the first glimpses of the aliens in Signs, and this movie is certainly no exception. The twists and turns in this film will keep you in disbelief for the entire running time. The biggest plot twist at the end will leave you in utter shock, with an ending nobody saw coming. Just like in his other three hits, Shyamalan does give himself a small role in the movie. This time around, he plays a smaller part, with a very interesting camera trick used to finally show his face in the shot.
Overall, Shyamalan delivers another chilling hit with this tale about alliances and truces, and why you should never stand in the forest on the other side of the yellow flags with your back to the darkness.