Shyamalan's odd-numbered films are great (spoiler-free)

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2004)

And "The Village" is an even-numbered film. Not to say that "The Village" and "Unbreakable" aren't good movies, but they aren't up to the caliber of "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs." It's not coincidental that their box office performance bear this out.
That said, "The Village" is a good movie. It's well acted, beautifully filmed, and directed with the solid virtuosity we've come to expect from M. Night Shyamalan. Besides his plot twists (more on this later), Shyamalan's trademark is his ability to set the right mood for genuine terror in the aisles. And he delivers in this movie. As with all his thrillers, excellent character development has a lot to do with this. Shyamalan is often accused, wrongly, of delivering B-movie horror thrills, but in fact he does exactly the opposite, as B-movie thrills aren't very thrilling at all. If you don't care about a character, you don't fear for the character, and you care about his characters. When Ivy is in peril, you are terrified for her. (Howard is terrific as Ivy.) Shyamalan also knows how to frame an image that is so primordially scary that you feel the fear no matter how much you tell yourself it's just a movie, like Graham in the cornfield at night in "Signs."
Another hallmark of M. Night's movies are sillinesses that you just have to get over to enjoy the picture. And there is a lot to enjoy once you do, but you have to get through that shell of plot contrivance. You have to believe that an adult male child psychologist will approach a child patient for the first time walking down the street alone. You have to accept the fact that aliens who can travel from other planets can't get through a wood door barred with a shovel. But if you can put yourself off skeptic-mode and not sweat the small stuff, you will be riveted. (And if you can't, there's no way you could have enjoyed Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark, for instance.) This is true of all of his movies, and it's true here too. Just relax -- it's worth it.
The big problem with The Village are the twists. I won't reveal what they are, but there are two here, and while they are sufficiently effective to move the story along, they aren't particularly moving or unsettling. In fact, they are a bit flat (even predictable). One in particular is considered by many to be very silly, but I think that's a little ironic, considering that it's not nearly as far-fetched as the idea of the existence of superheroes, the idea of an alien invasion or a supposed ability to see ghosts.
That said, movies are for keeping your attention and interest in the theater, and this one will definitely do that, trust me. I look forward to the next odd-numbered movie, though.