same features on a different story

Rating: 6/10 (21 August 2004)

I saw this movie expecting three things; first an unexpected twist at the end, which did happen. Second, a love story between a man and a woman that ties in with the twist. This also occurred, except this time the focus is more on the woman (Howard's character) than on the man (Phoenix's character), whereas in the previous 3 movies, the focus was on the man (Willis's characters in Sixth Sense and Unbreakable and Gibson's character in Signs). Third, a brief cameo by the director, which did happen, though in a different style than in previous times.
After seeing the Village, I know discern a fourth feature common to all 4 movies; one of the main characters has an extraordinary ability which he/she does not fully appreciate at first, but later comes to use with great responsibility. This was the boy's sixth sense in the first movie, the security guard's unbreakable body in the second movie, the daughter's appreciation of water in Signs, and the blind girl's ability to "see" several steps ahead in this movie.
Various other devices were stolen from the previous three movies for use in this one. These include the masked villian which few discern until it is too late (like Jackson's character in Unbreakable), the artificial villian (the ghosts in Sixth Sense), and the various characters who are widowed, orphaned, or have suffered the premature or even violent loss of a loved one (Gibson's widowed character in Signs). These various devices appear as major plot events in the Village, though in a form that is hidden until the story has finished.
In all, the scares weren't as scary, the plot twist was not as sudden, the dialogue a bit artificial, the villian was really not evil, just an "idiot", and the music not as captivating. A good effort, but not as good as the previous movies.