To put it simply, I was disappointed

Rating: 5/10 (17 August 2004)

**Warning: Spoilers ahead**
There's no easy way to sugar coat this so I'm just going to come right out and say it. Out of all the movies I have seen by M. Night Shyamalan, The Village is without a doubt the weakest one he has made, and one of the biggest disappointments of the summer. Maybe my expectations were too high after seeing Shyamalan's last movie Signs. At the time, I thought Signs was his best work to date, and I couldn't wait to see what he came up with next. Or maybe I was expecting something from the movie that it had no intention of delivering. I wanted a movie as creepy as Signs, but instead I got a movie that was, at times, tedious. In the end though, I just can't recommend The Village.
The premise of the movie centres on a close knit community who lives in the daily knowledge of dangerous creatures surrounding their village. Some critics (like Roger Ebert) have labeled the story as `hokey', but I don't think it's any hokier than some of Shyamalan's previous movies which deals with the undead, superheroes, and an alien invasion (which some of these same critics liked). My problem with the movie doesn't have anything to do with the premise itself, but with its execution. Signs was a movie that continuously had a sense of dread; that something simply felt amiss. We get none of that in The Village.
Yes we get a few jolts once in a while, but in between we often get some pointless rambling about how the village should be run, that everyone has to bury anything with the `bad colour', and to not be afraid of `Those We Don't Speak Of', which brings me to my next point. Why do they call it the `bad colour' and not simply red, or `Those We Don't Speak Of' the creatures in the woods (or something like that). Will saying red somehow call the creatures forth from the woods? I'd like to know, but Shyamalan doesn't seem to care enough to explain. Now don't get me wrong, I love movies with a lot of dialogue, just as long as its not worthless talking. Maybe he added those terms (bad colour, etc.) into the movie to make it seem more intelligent', but in my opinion without explaining the reasoning behind those and other terms it just seems pointless and stupid.
The revelation about what the creatures truly were in the movie was a little disappointing. I won't divulge what the revelation was, but I will say that I couldn't help but feel somewhat cheated, but I was willing to accept it in the hopes that the ending would prove to be interesting. Ah yesthe ending. The signature twist ending that is the hallmark of Shyamalan's movies. I thought the ending was great in The Sixth Sense, okay in Unbreakable, andnot so good in Signs. Don't worry I won't reveal what the ending was, but only say that I had mixed feelings about. It was definitely something I had NO idea was coming, and this was both its strength and weakness. I like unexpected endings such as that in The Sixth Sense, but the ending in The Village was over the top (which is something I know many will disagree with) and, to be honest, unnecessary.
On the other hand the acting in The Village was, on the whole, solid. The most notable standouts were Joaquin Phoenix and Bryce Dallas Howard. Phoenix plays the quiet Lucius Hunt. It was hilarious to watch one of the village girls profess her love for him, and watching him stand there with a deadpan expression on his face. Howard plays a blind villager named Ivy Walker. I immediately developed sympathy for her having to live the way she does, but she shows great fortitude throughout the movie, and it shows when should stood terrified outside of her house waiting for Lucius during an attack by the creatures, but never running away.
M. Night Shyamalan is a director who his loaded with talent. But even the greatest directors will once in a rare while make a movie that is not up to the standards of their previous works. For Shyamalan The Village would be this movie. I also think that it's a wake up call for him, that he needs to start changing his twist ending shtick. I know that pretty much every movie watcher will expect some kind of payoff at the end when watching his movies, but it's starting to get really old, really fast. I still want to see what Shyamalan does for his next movie, but my expectations won't be so high the next time around.
I give The Village a 5 out of 10.