The Village left much to be desired

Rating: 5/10 (13 February 2005)

With all of the hype that came with this film, I was very disappointed when I saw the finished product. Having seen Signs and The Sixth Sense, I was expecting a horror/thriller genre movie, with the kind of twist at the ending that left audiences speechless as in Night's past films.
The storyline in The Village was weak; the script was not well-written at all. It was as though all of the actors (with the exception of Joaquin Phoenix, who never spoke above a whisper for the entire film) were trying too hard to be old-fashioned - it was all very artificial. All in all, I felt that if this film had left more to the imagination and had flowed better (script-wise), I would have liked it a good deal more. As it was, I was left wanting more after the ending. A good premise was not done justice in the making of this film. I'm going to give it five stars, simply because I believe that this director and cast could have done better.