Flawed and disappointing

Rating: 3/10 (27 October 2004)

I enjoyed "The Sixth Sense". "Unbreakable" was not quite as good, and "Signs" continued the trend. What we've got now in "The Village", is a good movie only by the standards of someone who considers action films to be totally declasse.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not claiming "Terminator II" is a cinematic masterpiece. But at least I was entertained while watching T2, which is more than I can say for "The Village".
The plot limps, the central conceit is fatally flawed, the 'suspense' hardly merits the name, the acting is wooden, and the morals of those in authority in the eponymous village are deeply questionable--yet the director holds them up as admirable.
This is not one of Shyamalan's better efforts. * of *****