THE VILLAGE...SPOILERS..SPOILERS...SPOILERS...SPOILERS...

Okay - first of all I am a Shyamalan fan. I have thoroughly enjoyed his work. Signs being the best (though I was disappointed with how "water" played a big part in the movie), Sixth Sense being good, Unbreakable being okay.

As for The Village. As the movie went on I realized that it was not the horror flick that I thought it was going to be. I know a lot of people were p*ssed off because it really is a drama (with a hint of social commentary thrown in..) with a twist of horror...I must admit I was a little disappointed with the first twist, but realized that I was enjoying the movie as it was. I admit I did'nt see that ending coming, and I think it's kinda cool. Where I thought he had sold out with the creatures, it made sense with the ending...

As a movie...without the hype, without the Ad campaign making it "this years scariest movie to date", it's actually a great little picture. I loved the feeling of the village, the atmosphere and cinematography was great.

I was also going to question the fact about the lack of noise (planes etc..). But he conveniently covered that part.

Finally...I wonder if anyone else is like me. I can go into a movie and literally shut my brain off. I can become the target audience for almost any movie, and not think too much into any flick. I like to be surprised - even though it may be the easiest twist ever. I enjoy it. I know Shyamalan is known for his movie twists - but I can still go and see a movie unfold the way a director intends it to be unfolded. And I like that! Is anyone else like this?

I give The Village 4 out of 5.

I would have to say that I would have enjoyed the film so much more if there was no twist.  I really wish Shyamalan would start directing films written by other people than himself.  I really enjoyed "The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable," and "Sign," but I thought the ball was dropped on "The Village" just because the script was lacking.  His direction, though, is phenomenal.

But if he didn't write he'd probably quit but he also worked on Stuart Little so you never know

I finally saw this on DVD last night.  This was fantastic.  I really enjoyed this movie.  My only question is why wouldn't Edward Walker (played by William Hurt) not touch Alice Hunt (played by Sigourney Weaver).  I didn't understand that.

Don

I saw this movie a while bak in theters witha lot, and i mean a lot of friends. We all thot it sucked. Maybe because we thot it was gonna be more horror, instead of drama. A lot of boring parts, and it confused me at times. U guys mite think that i am LD, but i will say it anyways. The main character with the cane: I didnt know she was blind.
i was like "hey guys, y was that girl holding a cane, and walking with it. and how come she was using that log in the woods?"
Lol. Anyways, the part that scared me was with the red guy, that was about to kill the blind girl, but fell into the hole

I haven't seen it yet. I guess I'll rent it just to see how it is.

Dont rent that crap. lol. I thot it was horrible. maybe rate it a d pr sumthin. A lott of borin parts.

Quoted from AsianBoyToy Dont rent that crap. lol. I thot it was horrible. maybe rate it a d pr sumthin. A lott of borin parts.

go see jet li the movie 10 then

maybe i will

Actually I rented this basically for free (the Hollywood MVP movie deal) it is pretty bad.
And not so much the plot, and "the twist" but rather the way it all came together.
They gave the twist away to soon, so basically the scenes in the woods were pretty useless.
Well acted, though.

SPOILERS***

I didn't think they were useless. It had me confused and I, like Ivy, started to think there really was a creature after her, because her father told her that there were rumours of creatures living in the woods which is where they got the idea from. So you start to wonder if there's actually some truth in it, and then it's revealed that Noah was wearing a costume. That was the most effective twist in the film. I didn't see that coming one bit, and it was kind of sad .

Ian

Since I started this thread I suppose I should follow up by stating how profoundly disappointed with this film I was. Technically M. Night is a skilled filmaker. An artisan on par with hitchcock and Spielberg, but his storytelling skills have slipped into smaltzy, gimmickry.

The film did not take advantage of the political and social subtext dangling so obviously in front of his face and I think that this is why it lacked resonance and did not connect.

The acting was earnest and the film was beautiful visually, but the story was just not powerful or compelling enough and the themes were muddled and flimsy.

Though this was a stutter step, M. Night is still someone I am interested in and think he has a long career ahead of him.

I agree

After watching this movie, I wondered if the person who designed the posters and taglines had actually seen the movie or did M Night make a mistake. It was a BIG MISTAKE to have people hope it was strictly a horror/thriller when they walked into that theater - because when they realized it wasn't, they're angry - Bryce Howard and Joaquin Phoenix falling in love isn't what they bought tickets for. But I was in a reverse situation - I was dragged into seeing it with my family because they wanted to get scared but I didn't. So when it turned out what the movie was REALLY about, I was excited - and saw it 4 times in theaters while my family thought it was a waste of two hours - sweet revenge. Bryce Howard (Ivy) was probably one of the best performances.

What I absolutely loved was the cinematography. It was like every shot could've been taken as a still for a poster or something. Beautiful.

Something I noticed was M. Night's double visions.

Bruce Willis in Unbreakable and Sixth Sense
Joaquin Phoenix in Signs and the Village
Bryce Dallas Howard in the Village and the new Lady in the Water

Night has been typcasted into the role of "last twist" writer/director lately but it's making him money. Did you know that he wrote the screenplay for Stuart Little? Not what I expected from M. Night Shyamalan.

I liked The Village, despite all the morons sitting around me complaining. However, I did not like Unbreakable.