A good director writes a bad movie

Rating: 3/10 (24 January 2005)

M. Night has made some of the most memorable movies of the past few years, and whether he likes it or not, he is known for his trademark twist. Starting off, "The Village" has a lot of potential. It is eerily set in the back woods of Pennsylvania, and the setting alone feeds on the memories we all have of being scared of the woods at night. But this setting cannot carry the movie by itself, and we are left with a sub-par movie on a number of levels.
His first flaw is in the characters. While they are likable, we do not see them enough to get a feel for them. When Luscious is stabbed, we do not know him well enough to feel very bad for him. Ivy, though the foremost character, is never really developed, and we don't get to know her as well as one should know their main character. The dialog is perhaps the worst part of the movie. It is extremely dry, dull, and often drags on for too long. Their old style of speaking often comes off as forced and unrealistic. The plot even seems sluggish, and after an hour of movie you realize only a few events have taken place.
But the worst part of this film is the highly anticipated ending. We have come to expect something wonderful from M. Night's endings. Audiences go to his movies expecting to leave satisfied, and the 'twist' of The Village is extremely disappointing. It almost seems like a cop-out. Even if I had enjoyed different parts of the film, the ending left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wanted and hour and a half of my life back. Hopefully his next effort with be little more worthy than this one.