It's all about the scenery.

Rating: 6/10 (2 February 2005)

I read one IMDb user's review of The Village which stated that M. Night made a mistake releasing The Sixth Sense because it made everyone in the world expect some earth shattering twist at the end of all of his movies, which is almost right. Luckily, this reviewer goes on to explain that M. Night has been trying ever since The Sixth Sense to recapture that awe that he created in his first major audiences, which IS right. In The Village, M. Night tries too hard to lead the audience in one direction that when we are brought back to reality it inspires an "oh, please" reaction rather than awe.
I have tremendous respect for the immense film-making talent of M. Night Shyamalan, so I am not willing to fault him for making a weak film, but I am also not willing to see him create a weak film and then not say that it's a weak film. The look of it puts the time period sometime in the 1800's or an Amish community in Pennsylvania in the 1800s, 1900s, 2000s, etc. M. Night actually claims in the making-of documentary included with the DVD that the movie was set in the 1800s because he wanted to create an atmosphere of innocence. A small village of people seem to have been living under an agreement with some sort of malicious creatures that live in the woods that surround their village. They don't go in the woods, the creatures don't come out and hurt any of them.
Because of M. Night's reputation for surprise endings, I doubt that many people read reviews of his movies unless they've already seen them. Even so, here is the obligatory spoiler warning  SPOILER AHEAD! What I like about the movie is that, while the twist is firmly in the realm of the ludicrous, it is at least very well explained, even if not ever credibly. There are vague explanations about how government officials have been paid off to prevent airplanes from flying over the village and terrifying the townspeople, no one is ever allowed to go into what is called an animal preserve, and in one of the last scenes, newspaper clippings reveal the suffering that many of the founders of the village have suffered, thus inspiring them to create it.
I can certainly understand their motivations, especially since they have all suffered extremely, through the murders of loved ones, rape, burglary, etc. I live in Los Angeles and anytime I get a freaking parking ticket I just about want to move out of the country. But the problem is that they respond to their suffering by creating a society that is maintained by instilling fear in all of its residents.
This fear is maintained much the same way that the fear of Voldemort was maintained in the Harry Potter stories. He is referred to as "He Who Must Not Be Named" by everyone except Harry Potter, who uses his name freely due to a total lack of fear. The creatures in the woods in this movie are referred to as "Those We Do Not Speak Of" as they are constantly spoken of in never-ending efforts to keep everyone scared.
It is an interesting exploration of M. Night's technique, but the payoff is such a tremendous letdown that it is almost difficult to pay attention to the explanations that justify the possibility of the village's existence because of the disappointment. The movie is well made, the script is not.