M. Night's worst effort

Rating: 3/10 (3 August 2004)

Before I get started on my rant, I'd like to clarify that I love M. Night Shyamalan. I believe he is one of those raw talents who understands, loves, and excels in the art of film-making. I also believe that he is a true genius and adds genuine substance to his movies. The Village, however, I felt, I was a huge failure.
Naturally the cinematography was brilliant and the cast was great.
The acting direction is what suffered the worst, having amazing actors speaking terrible dialogue in very unnatural affectations.
Jake Brody had glimmers of greatness, but overall did not seem to fully understand his role and came off as hokey and unrealistic.
William Hurt played the worst role of his career, and sigourney weaver was absent from the entire film, even in the scenes she was in. The movie's strength, and basis, was its socio political implications, what seemed to me to be his interpretation of Plato's allegory of the cave, and how people choose to live in ignorance in preference to knowing the truth and risking the fear that goes along with it. On the political standpoint it is a metaphor for a society being manipulated through fear of attack, being forced into self censorship and seclusion. However, this was too blatant, and did not form into a cohesive film. I loved the village, save for the cheesy ending, and I think that Unbreakable is one of the most brilliant underrated films in recent history, and don't even get me started on The Sixth Sense. I could not, for the life of me, however recommend this movie to anyone who is interested in anything more than aesthetic virtuosity. Hopefully M. Night's next film will leave this one in the dust. 3/10