The Village...a love story

Rating: 5/10 (12 January 2005)

It should come as no surprise that this film was marketed as a horror film. That is after all what Mr. Shyamalan is known for and what they figure will sell the most tickets. The fact is the film is a love story. I think this is why many people were let down by the film. They were expecting a Sixth Sense or Signs type of film but what they get, in fact, is something very different.
As I watched the special features on the DVD I realized that Mr. Shyamalan may have started writing a spooky horror yarn but then got sucked in by the characters he was creating and took more of an interest in them than the goblins.
Basically, if this film were marketed with a bit more honesty more people may have enjoyed it. I would say this is not a film for fans of Night's past work but more a film for a broader audience.
To me, what I think Night does in this film is explore a little deeper parts of the Rev. Graham Hess character from Signs. As a progression for the filmmaker I think this makes perfect sense. In this film it's more about the characters than the supernatural. Love is this films central theme and in case you miss that point the characters are given several lines to drive this point home.
Perhaps that is the real twist of this film, that it's a film made by M. Night Shyamalan that's not like the other films he's made. He's made a love story this time and seemed to put a great deal of care into creating it.
The actors all do a fine job and it is quite a cast. Hurt, Gleeson, and Weaver are fantastic, as are the often mentioned Howard and Phoenix. Brody also does well with his role. Just the cast alone was enough to get me interested in seeing this and I'm not a fan of Mr. Shyamalan's work.
Overall I found the film to be interesting and well made. It's not a great film, having sort of tried to be two things at once and failing at both, but it is a good entertainment. The secrets of the film are not kept well hidden and I believe most people will sort out what's going on early on but I think that is what the director intends. He is a director of big popular entertainments, in the same way that guy who made ET and Jaws is. So, the films message will always be hammered home and made quite obvious. He does succeed in entertaining I think.
Watch this film expecting a love story and I think you may enjoy the ride. Watch it expecting a horror film and you may fall asleep halfway through.
If I were ranking it on a star system with no stars being the worst and four stars being the best...I'd give this film 2 stars.
My IMDb vote for this film is a 5.