Poor guy . . .

Rating: 9/10 (4 August 2004)

Pity M. Night Shyamalan. That twist ending from The Sixth Sense is going to haunt him forever. My advice: don't go into The Village with the wrong expectations. Look at this as a story, not a mind-trick.
Personally, I really liked it. Good performances bring interesting characters to life. The suspense is present at all times, even when you have figured out what's going on (or think you have). And yes, there are a couple of neat surprises throughout the movie. Will the ending make you re-think the whole experience? Um, no, but not every movie has to pull the rug from under you. I'm more concerned with having a connection with what's going on in the screen, with being involved in the story. Something that's difficult to achieve when you focus on trying to second-guess the plot.
Now, granted, I'm not saying this is the case with every person that goes to see the movie and doesn't like it. I can completely understand people being turned off by Shyamalan's slow pacing, the odd speech patterns he gives to his characters, his old-style approach to suspense (not showing the threat unless it's absolutely necessary and even then, only barely, most of the time), etc. Personally, I like it. I like his style, and it's been pretty consistent throughout his movies (all of which I've enjoyed a lot, with the exception of The Sixth Sense, which was ok but definitely was an instance where the gimmick made the movie). So here I am, jumping in to defend a movie whose biggest sin seems to be that it didn't set out to do what its audience expected it to.
Oh, well. In case you're wondering, my favorite Shyamalan movie is "Unbreakable", so I wasn't in the majority already.