'M. Night Shymalan sells his film soul for the twistless twist'

Rating: 1/10 (9 December 2006)

What can one say about M. Night Shymalan? Perhaps, "Wow I never saw that coming!" or "Jeez! That was completely OBVIOUS!". He basically had no grey shades. You love him or hate him... I was a lot closer to hate from the beginning.
If what I say is true and I do hate him than why to I continuously give his films a chance? Perhaps it's the pedigree of his actors (Mel Gibson. Sam Jackson, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, recently Paul Giamatti.) But I'm thinking it's his uncanny ability of creating an interesting premise... unfortunately his talent goes limp from there. The story of 'The Village' centers around just that: A village. Run by a council known as the elders, the town is constrained to a wooded boundary, outside of which there lie "Those Who Shall Not Be Spoken Of" who run around in red robes.
Soon, the plucky blind girl of the town must venture past the woods to another town. WHY? Her lover is sick and she's going to get better medicines. First, however, she must have something revealed about not only the town, but also about what lies beyond the village. This is a film where every performance is lackluster and every word is less believable than the next. It's one of the worst films in recent memory.