The blame where it belongs

Rating: 1/10 (1 August 2004)

Well, I have to say that I am, generally, an M. Night fan. Even when I haven't enjoyed one of his movies , I could see what get what he was attempting to do. Sixth Sense was great fun. Unbreakable I hated, but managed to appreciate the artistry and what he was trying to accomplish. Signs was not at all what I expected it to be, but I really enjoyed it and rather liked that it turned out to be a character study (with some laughs and a few scares) rather than a monster movie.
On to "The Village" which feels, actually, like a C-grade adaptation of a Shirley Jackson story. The acting is wooden, the "twist" is easily discernible within the first 30 minutes, and the film has utilized editing (and not well) in order to fill in substantial gaps in the story.
Despite its flaws, I might have liked this movie had Touchstone obviously not turned its PR department on full-force to get people into the theaters by building it up to be something it obviously was not and if the movie, when all was said an done, was satisfying in any way. It is very obvious that the execs at Disney saw this film and went "how the heck are we gonna sell this? It's slow, nothing happens, and the story is really derivative?" They concocted their marketing plan (including the whole documentary on M. Night, I'm sure) based on M. Night's "thrill factor" and implemented it, but the movie they were tricking everyone into seeing is not in any way strong enough to counter the anger of movie goers who, like myself, felt cheated. And let me be clear: I didn't feel cheated because the movie wasn't a scary, monster movie. I felt cheated because this didn't even turn out to be an interesting character study or a pleasant diversion from the work week. It fell flat in every way, from writing to acting to execution.
Well, Disney got its big opening.