The Village

Unfortunately I knew the twist, and (independently) the film tends towards being overly schematic and obvious, particularly near the end, but The Village is still a pretty effective bit of film-making. It definitely benefits from a top notch cast - Joaquin Phoenix, now that I've gotten over my instinctive dislike of him, is consistently convincing, Bryce Dallas Howard, who I've not seen before, was very good in coming to be the centre of the film (her air of luminous innocence is critical), Adrien Brody also held the gaze, playing against type as the village idiot - and it has that M Night Shyamalan feel...