Possibly one of the best movies of the summer. [SLIGHT SPOILERS]

Rating: 10/10 (3 August 2004)

I've come to expect a lot from M. Night Shyamalan. My expectations have never been met precisely. They've been blown away. 'The Village' is no exception. Beautifully photographed, well played, masterfully edited, this film is a tribute to the art of film-making. I have a habit of studying movies for application to my classes (I am a film student), but I found myself riveted by this film. The first time I saw it, I was unable to make any analysis during the film. All I could say was "Wow." M. Night has once again stepped beyond the boundaries set by previous films.
It's interesting to see the writer's exploration through the past four films. Not only is there marked improvement from movie to movie, there is a sense that M. Night is experimenting with various ideas. In 'The Sixth Sense' and 'Unbreakable,' he played with the story twist of a main character not being what he seemed throughout the major part of the story. In 'Signs,' he used the technique of placing clues throughout the movie as to how the story will end, then tying them all together in one big circumstance. In 'The Village,' he turned the twist used in his first two films around. The whole world that the characters were living in was not what it seemed throughout the duration of the movie.
It's interesting to see how M. Night used hand-held in this feature. Previously, he used hand-held a lot to invoke a sense of connection to the characters and a bit of chaos to the film. In 'The Village,' he limited hand-held quite a bit. M. Night seems to be a director who likes to break the trend of Hollywood. For example, it seems that several directors are becoming fascinated with quick editing techniques made famous by Guy Ritchie. M. Night doesn't do that. The entire last scene was one shot. The whole scene inside the park ranger's office was one shot.
Overall, this was an amazing journey into the lives and fears of the people living in this village.