The Village became a hot topic on another thread, so I thought I'd begin a new one about that movie by itself. People have mixed feeling about what Shyamalan did right and wrong here and I'm very curious about it.

Personally, I felt the big twist of the creatures not really existing simply destroyed the film's rewatchability since 100% of the suspense was gone. Those creatures were the only thing that created any fear or suspense in the film, so knowing the truth just makes it laughable the second time through.

This didn't ruin the film for me, though. I actually felt the later revelation of where and when they were was an even bigger surprise and made the film very interesting in retrospect. I think their motives could have been better explained in some scene, but overall, I didn't have a problem with the film, and I thought Shyamalan did a good job with the idea, as un-re-watchable as it is.

Opinions?

I hated The Village. I thought it was mediocre from the start but the twist is really what ruined it for me. I felt cheated.

Anyway, what's the Village have to do with music? Wrong board, dude.

I think George actually meant to spark a discussion regarding his favorite band --

The Village People....

Quoted from George Willson so knowing the truth just makes it laughable the second time through.

Laughable the second time?

My major problem with this is that, not only is the twist wholly unsatisfying and poorly executed, it comes about halfway through the movie (if I remember correctly). I just wanted to turn off as soon as the reveal came along.

A waste of some great cinematography, strong performances and some decent suspense building.

Bitterly disappointing movie.

he took a huge risk...it didnt work....  Hopefully his next movie "Lady in The Water" will be better...

I enjoyed it for what it was mindless entertainment. That's what cinema is and will always be.

Doesn't change my life either way.

Crap. My bizarre view of the world thought it said movie reviews and discussion. Can someone please move this into movie boards? I feel like such a putz.

Thank you...

i thought the village was an excellent movie and i have it on DVD and have watched it numerous times... although the creatures being fake does take away suspense its still good to watch simply for the execution of the directing and secondly because the story never fails to amaze me even though i know what will come... there are new details i notice everytime that just add to the enjoyment.... i can totally understand why some people view it as a gimmick but to me the twist isn't the main point of the story and isn't as bad as some people say

True, the Village may have next to zero rewatchability, but you have to give him credit for a good story - and I'm not talking about the whole "Hey, we're in the year 200-whatever instead of the 1800s." M. Night did a fantastic job of expressing a theme of fear with this script, and he did it in a way that most Hollywood films wouldnt even try hard enough to do.  He created a smart story,  he just added a twist that ruined it (sort of).

I love Shyamalan and I love his work. In regards to The Village - I must admit I thought it was fantastic. As the movie unfolded, I remember sitting in the theatre thinking "Uh-oh, a lot of people are gonna be pissed at this movie...".

It's fantastically filmed and the acting is top notch. What killed it for people was two things:

1. It was falsely marketed as a horror movie - which it is not. Yes, it deals with fear and terror - but I wouldn't classify it as a typical horror movie.

2. The first twist. Although I don't think it kills the movie, what it does is kills the premise. That's why it was so important to have the sub-theme and the second twist. Roger Ebert gives a review, a harsh one mind you, but a fair one in retrospect. Let me quote him:

"The Village is a colossal miscalculation, a movie based on a premise that cannot support it, a premise so transparent it would be laughable were the movie not so deadly solemn. It's a flimsy excuse for a plot, with characters who move below the one-dimensional and enter Flatland."

AND

"Eventually the secret of Those, etc., is revealed. To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It's a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from It Was All a Dream. It's so witless, in fact, that when we do discover the secret, we want to rewind the film so we don't know the secret anymore.

And then keep on rewinding, and rewinding, until we're back at the beginning, and can get up from our seats and walk backward out of the theater and go down the up escalator and watch the money spring from the cash register into our pockets."
I don't agree with his one-dimensional characters critique, I thought they were good and acted/re-acted with honesty to their situation.

It was a calculated risk - and to most, it failed. I'm one of the folks who liked it and will watch it again.

It just bugged me how the blind girl ran through the forest without hitting a single tree.  I was like, shit,this is just ridiculous.  She didn't trip or anything.

it doesnt show her running through the whole forest and she did almost fall down that hole... if theyd have shown her running into trees it would have changed the whole tone of the film, she made mistakes but not big ones which also go to show her character... although she's blind she's just as capable as anyone else in the village and is alot braver

Quoted from MacDuff 1. It was falsely marketed as a horror movie - which it is not. Yes, it deals with fear and terror - but I wouldn't classify it as a typical horror movie.

I think this sums up its biggest problem. If it had been marketed to a different audience, it might have fared better. However, when you try and hit the horror audience with something like this, you're bound to get nailed to the wall, because the horror audience doesn't want this. Kind of a case of misfired expectations. You EXPECT Shyamalan to put out a certain type of film, and when one is marketed as a film like those he has put out before, you go in with the expectation that this is what you're getting.

Then you get zinged with a film that relies on something other than its shock value to survive. Once you pass that first twist, the genre (by necessity) changes. You move from the original horror to one that is more straight drama. And it's hard to get the horror buffs to sit through a drama and hard to get drama buffs to sit through a horror.

As a result, ka-boom!

Quoted from sfpunk it doesnt show her running through the whole forest and she did almost fall down that hole... if theyd have shown her running into trees it would have changed the whole tone of the film, she made mistakes but not big ones which also go to show her character... although she's blind she's just as capable as anyone else in the village and is alot braver

Doesn't matter how brave she is, a blind person running through a forest is bound to hit a tree.  It's imperturbable.  The probability of a lone blind person running through a forest and not hitting a tree, is just about as improbable as me turning into a million penguins right now.  Which would actually be pretty cool.

I thought the movie was sub-par.  Nicely photographed with some creative sequences, but for the most part it wallowed one step above mediocrity.

For me, there just wasn't very much entertainment value.  I didn't think the suspense was particularly good, I didn't identify with the characters, and it moved far too slowly for me.  Now I'm not the type who gets bored when I'm not watching Michael Bay, but all the same, I felt like yelling, "Get on with it!"  This meant that when the first twist came around, it just sort of crushed any hope I had of being entertained.

I thought some of the acting was great, and some of it was downright laughable.  Same goes for writing.  I dunno...in the end, I just thought it was too much of a non-event.

yeah again though, running into a tree would have ruined the tone... as for me i am just imaging it being done in a cheesey way... like i said she made mistakes but nothing to ruin the tone and style the movie was going for

Well obviously it ruined the movie for me.

You realize I'm kidding around, right?  Of course they aren't going to have her run into a tree.

I am absolutely in love with this film. I think the story has a lot of meaning, the characters and their relationships are engrossing, and I found some scenes to be really suspenseful (the "Don't let them in!" moment is great). It's beautifully shot, edited and scored, and on the subject of the score, I think it was robbed of an Oscar. I saw Finding Neverland and I can't remember what the score was like at all. It didn't make an impression. James Newton Howard's score for The Village was a beautiful masterpiece and actually elevated the film to a point where had a different score been used, the film would just not have been that good. A score rarely has that much importance, but it did here. It absolutely made the aforementioned scene where Ivy won't close the door.

Anyway, I think it has an incredible story that no one just lets unfold in front of them because they insist on picking it apart and basing how good it was purely on the twists, and how well they stand alone rather than in the context of the story and the overall meaning Shyamalan is trying to put across. I mean I personally think they were good but it's not like that's all the story has to offer, the romance between Ivy and Lucius is the biggest part of the story anyway. And I would like to have the bad acting pointed out to me because I didn't spot any. I thought the performances were brilliant.

I enjoyed this film but not as much as Unbreakable (It is what Superhero films should strive to be) big budget films always tank because they don't understand how to tell the story without jumping into the pretty CgI. M Night went a step further and made the beginning of something special.

He gets brownie points for Bruce Willis (The guys got IT)

M Night makes good films that may only appeal to certain people but when the lines are drawn more people like his films then hate them.

Doesn't make anybody wrong, it's all just personal opinions.

man this movie pissed me off.  I was so angry at the end, I knew something was up about the halfway point and my heart began to sink, this was dreadful, one of the worst movies I have ever seen.  on a positive note the cinematography was great, and I really like William Hurt, but other than that, UGH, total shit IMO!

Quoted from The boy who could fly man this movie pissed me off.  I was so angry at the end, I knew something was up about the halfway point and my heart began to sink, this was dreadful, one of the worst movies I have ever seen.  on a positive note the cinematography was great, and I really like William Hurt, but other than that, UGH, total shit IMO!

You've got taste! This film, despite the fantastic idea, characters, dialogue, photography, color coding motifs, set-up and everything else which make  for a great movie was lost in the crappy ending! The payoff was appaulingly bad. And I agree, this movie really pissed me off too!

Flush this one down the toilet!

The only decent film M Night has done is Sixth Sense, all the others are diabolical!

I watched The Village. It really, REALLY annoyed me. I meam, for some reason, you watch horror films cuz you want to be scared. There is one slightly scary moment. Well, not scary. Just suprising, and that's when the wolf type thing walks under the bridge. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Quoted from DOM I watched The Village. It really, REALLY annoyed me. I meam, for some reason, you watch horror films cuz you want to be scared. There is one slightly scary moment. Well, not scary. Just suprising, and that's when the wolf type thing walks under the bridge. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

The Village wasn't a horror movie.  It was more of a mystery/thriller.

Watch Jack Frost and you wil lfind the real menaing of "shit".

I've been able to figure out all the twists in MNS's movies before they happen.  In 'The Village,' it figured it out real early in the movie.


Phil