Shymalan's worst is better than many other's best

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2004)

This is not a great film, it may very well be Shymalan's worst, but I can not believe the way it is being savaged both by posters here and, apparently, by the majority of critics. The film is technically solid; the photography stood out for me especially. I thought the cast was very good all around and Ms. Howard was excellent. The film's weakness is the script, which takes a 60 minute concept and stretches it for 2 hours. In the hands of a lesser director this could have made for an extremely tedious film (i.e. "Identity"). "The Village" had enough going for it to keep me from getting annoyed, though my attention may have lagged in parts. It seems to me that Shymalan is held to a higher standard. If this had been a film by a first time director, I think reaction would have been largely positive. One caveat: this is definitely not a horror film, despite the marketing campaign. Anyone who goes in expecting that will be disappointed.