Genres

Visitors Review

jjamison-1 2012-05-25 08:22:54

Scary? Not much.

I've read the postings saying this was a scary movie, and sorry, I haveto disagree. There were a few scene that were a little tense, but whichamounted to nothing. The worse scene for me was the scene when Ivyclimbed out of the hole. I wondered how she was going to get all thatmud off her clothes. I guess I've seen to many movies, but I had "SixthSense" figured out in the first 15 minutes. When I heard "The Village"described as a "Twilight Zone" movie, that secured the ending for me---I knew what was coming. Actually there was a plot hole as big as a barn--- SPOILER ALERT! Thepicture that William Hurt took out of the box was modern, the clothesworn by the people looked about 1980 fashions. Ivy and Lucius looked tobe in their 20's, especially him. Where was their memory of their lifebefore they came to the village? How could the elders have mislead somany people who were old enough to remember "real life." Sorry--- I hadthought the ending would be a little sharper--- it was like I hadexpected and seeing the truck was my ah-ha moment. But-- what happenedwhen Ivy got back from town? The movie just stops. I enjoyed theacting, but the ending was a disappointment. Some sort of wrap-up wasneeded, but none came.

krustylu66 2012-05-25 08:09:53

Well Made Poorly Written

The follow up th "Signs" follows in its footsteps with a well made,acted, photographed, directed but poorly written movie.SPOILERSThis thing is like a big budget Scooby Doo episode (Darn those meddlingyoungsters!) and just as easy to figure out. To be fair I had heardthere was a twist so I was looking for it so maybe that made the"secrets" easy to figure out. For an example of the poor writing lookat the scene in the guard shack at the end, it was like something ahigh school kid would write, conveniently clearing up all naggingquestions we might have. ITS A MOVIE!!! SHOW ME THINGS. Its always asign of bad writing when characters sit around and explain things oropen a proverbial (or in this case a literal) Pandora's box full ofgoodies to explain things. Ugh!! I loved "6th sense" (the twist at theend was SHOWN to us) and "Unbreakable" but "Signs" and "Village" areawful.

Henry Fields 2012-05-23 10:51:27

Shyamalan blooms again

M. Night Shyamalan is one of those privileged minds, like AlejandroAmenábar, which have learned their lesson about how to tell stories,how to thrill, how to frighten us, how to attract people to thecinemas. Maybe they're not renovating the Seventh Art, but they surecan defend that sentence that says "the movies are meant to entertainand make fun". They're the first ones in the class when is time to telldisturbing plots, those who will keep your attention till the very end,and then will knock you out with a final twist. That's just and oldtrick with a big disadvantage: the second time you watch "The 6thSense" or "The Others" you will feel a 99% less of excitement… but Ithink that's a risk that is worth taking.After the delusion of "Signs", Shyamalan reborns with "The Village", aprecious moral fable about a group of villagers that are besieged bysome creatures who live in the adjacent woods. Shyamalan demonstratesthat he knows how to go beyond thatspectacular-final-twist-of-the-story from "6th Sense" or "Unbreakable",that he can move us with innocence, and tenderness, even with a nicelove story. He shows us only the things we need to see, he guides us,he handles us and his camera as he pleases, and he's good! His actorsdirection is just splendid, because it's not enough to have a bunch ofgreat actors (Weaver, Hurt, Gleeson, Brody…)… no, you have to lead themwith wisdom and talent, and M. Night never neglect his actors."The Village" is just like a fairy tale, one of those that ourgrandfathers used to tell us, one of those we listened with our earswide open… one of those you wouldn't want to end.Yeah, we need Greg Aronofsky, Michael Haneke, or Takeshi Kitano; but wealso need directors like M. Night Shyamalan, we need some escape, somefantasy, we need mystery. And he is quite capable of giving that to usevery 2 or 3 years.PD: Pay attention to Bryce Dallas Howard. Pay attention to that redhair, those blue eyes, and that enigmatic beauty, 'cause she's gonnaset tongues wagging. And if you don't trust me just take a look at thecredits of Lars Von Trier's next work: "Manderlay". Get prepared,Nicole Kidman! *My rate: 7.5/10

crprouty 2012-05-23 05:54:32

Average

I was disappointed by The Village, especially since i enjoyedShyamalan's 3 previous films very much. What saves this film from beingterrible is the strong cast. I enjoyed the movie every time JoaquinPhoenix was on the screen and missed him in every scene he was not.Don't get me wrong the supporting cast is solid, but Phoenix outshinesthem every chance he gets. The movie isn't bad and your money won't bewasted but it felt very much like an average episode of the "TwilightZone." Thought provoking, but particularly memorable or life-changing.If you are fan of Shyamalan I recommend seeing this movie. But if youdidn't enjoy his previous work, I would stay away.

j_crist 2012-05-20 17:33:41

the usual mediocrity

As usual the director has made another mediocre film. It's basically astudent film far too long. The story could have been told in less thanan hour episode and it could have been as well as a TV film. Such awaste of actors but I guess they have to pay their bills as well.Dialogues were at time even irritating for how they were obvious andbad. Cinematic ally speaking the film had nice images, not specialthough but that's the job of a cinematographer who is another personemployed for the film. This director strangely enough writes and directoverrated movies, still manages movie after movie. For one thing isvery skilled of is finding financiers and producers because anyone elsecoming out with those "thin" scripts with one plot would be impossibleto sell even the ideas. I believe at film school they might teach storyconstructions and all but perhaps he didn't even go to a film school.He was already a genius, check out his homemade film he is so proud toshow in each DVD. It's insulting the intelligence of the audience. Iwish only that the reviewer would write honest article when his moviesare released but because of what probably the distribution companiespay to the magazine by the time the film is going into the theaters allreviews are great (even though many magazine don't even get a screeningcopy or preview, weird isn't it?!) but months after that the same filmmagazines publish other reviews and usually those are more "realistic",in fact the latest I read finally told the truth, this movie sucks!!!

darwiniantheory 2012-05-20 05:30:49

The Village of the mundane

I have just seen the movie and alas i was not even slightly shocked, amazedor bewildered by the whole film.The plot was too simple, the ending was obvious and it had the feel of drquin medicine woman mixed with The Blair Witch Project atbest.I expected so much more from Night, but sadly i was mistaken. Night hasmade some good films and sooner or later the bubble wouldburst.Its more the kind of thing you would like to see on TV as then you wouldntpay to see it.Thumbs down as a Night film and as a generic movie... thumbs downalso.THINK NEXT TIME NIGHT..... Recapture yourself in a new story and dont listento the production team so much.

Azlan Lewis 2012-05-16 04:06:45

Barely watchable

After this movie was released Mr. Shyamalan should not have beenallowed to may any more films.Very predictable, implausible with how you are introduced at the startof this move you are supposed to be in the 1800's as the movieprogresses you learn of events in the people's lives that made themwant to get away from society and start this colony. Which if are to bebelieved are events that none of these people would speak of outsidefamily for the era of the 1800's. So how they learned of each other isa mystery even after you find out it's not really set in the 1800's.Once you learn this fact it is just something to watch because you areenjoying your popcorn that you made or paid for at the theater.During the movie a villager becomes ill and a doctor in the villagesays they need antibiotics to help the villager. The woods areinhabited by a mystical evil man eating creature. You learn later isnothing more then a villager in a costume that has a mental issue.An older girl played by the daughter of Ron Howard, is the one thatsays she will get the antibiotics. She is given a note to give to theperson at the "ranger station", wait Ranger station. Wait did I typeranger station,this is supposed to be the 1800s. I didn't know rangerstations even now keep a prescription medicine cabinet in the officelet alone then. She is stalked by the villager disguised monster, whomshe alludes and later kills though not at her own hand. She gets to theouter edge of this village beyond the woods she encounters a signindicating it is the "Private Nature Preserve" of the family of one ofthe village elders. The children have not be raised to know there isnothing more then 1800s technology available. When this girl encountersthe park ranger's truck she is not frightened or anything.Another failed movie by M. Night Shyamalan not worth the time.

axonsworld 2012-05-15 14:37:39

amazingly poor film

Forget suspension of belief, for this film one needs to fully embrace asuspension of intellect. In the tradition of 'Signs' this directorcontinues to offend the sensibilities of any thinking person.Lackluster performances by the famous cast may have been due to thestilted and lame dialog or to the silly and predictable plot, buteither way they all should have stayed away from this expensivedebacle. The blind girl was really pretty, at least;)This movie wasdisgracefully marketed as one of Hollywood's best psychologicalthrillers, ranking with the best of Hitchcock!!! Yet, truly there isnothing thrilling or suspenseful about this $64M ode to corporategreed. Please, Hollwood, stop the madness and make smart and organicmovies.

fetch-3 2012-05-14 10:24:53

Cut the guy some slack!

"The Village" IS different from all other Night films. "The SixthSense," "Unbreakable," "Signs" -- all of these struck me as brilliantlyconceived and made, and I loved them because of the humanity theyshowed. When "The Village" was over, I didn't know what to think or howto feel about it, and felt vaguely cheated without knowing quite why.But then my husband and I started discussing the film. He drew myattention to several aspects that I had, frankly, missed. And for therest of the evening, wonderful things about the movie kept occurring tous. Here's what I finally came down to: Night is a genius who has mademultiple brilliant films. Maybe "The Village" is less brilliant -- ormaybe it's MORE brilliant. The important thing is that Night took therisk. He wasn't afraid to risk everything he's built so far. I'm liking"The Village" more and more as I think about it, and my respect for thefilmmaker has grown, too. He took the risk. Most of us who arecriticizing him HAVE NEVER MADE A MOVIE. He's done it over and over;each one delights in a different way; and he never plays it safe. Givehim a break.

headsprung_12 2012-05-13 20:27:28

what's with the plot twist thing

what I don't get is if Ivy finds out that the story of " Those who wedo not speak of" is a lie then why does she get so terrified when thatmental dude comes and tries to scare her? I mean she's blind in thefirst place so how does she even know that he's dressed up like that?She didn't even make contact with him, what if it was just a human,after all the footsteps should have sounded like human ones.Also, I thought that the ending was really lame like, so she went outto get medicine and came back. So what. Is she gonna continue living ina village full of lies? It's just back to the beginning isn't it? Imean now she knows about the lie but nothing changed in the movie. Isshe gonna tell everyone? Are they gonna get discovered? Like what wasthe point of the movie. IMO it was a complete waste of time.

rporter04 2012-05-12 18:15:29

Don't waste your money *SOME SPOILERS*

This had to be the most God awful movie I have ever seen. This made"Freddy's Dead" and "Catwoman" look like masterpieces! This moviesimply had NO point, the only thing remotely entertaining was Brody'srole as the retarded Noah. I know this movie was trying to "saysomething deep about mankind" but please! It made me feel no emotion orconnection to the story whatsoever. The elders are essentially liarswho pretend to *SPOILERS*be monsters to keep this little world they have created together.Mankind is so depraved that they were forced to do this. Yes forced tobe deceitful and cruel, striking fear into others to control them. Ihated this film plain and simple.

Alexandra 2012-05-12 13:18:17

Absolutely horrible

I'm a big Shyamalan fan. "The Sixth Sense," "Unbreakable," and "Signs"are all fine films, provided you watch them exactly once. But this workis subpar at best and horrible at worst.For starters, "those we do not speak of" were too much about words andtoo little about actual suspense in this film. They were referred topractically every minute and showed up, what, two times? This is not tosay the village should have been under constant attack, but it made itseem as though there was no enemy. Children play, people get married,it's all very ho hum except for the town gathering and climacticscenes.Brody's portrayal of the mentally challenged character is passable. Ido like how he is tied in to the main story thread at the end. Phoenixalso is passable. His portrayal is fine, there's just not much there.It really feels like Night threw this script together quickly.But there are signs (pardon the pun) of what is to come all throughoutthis film. It makes the big "twist ending" a colossal letdown. And tothose who savor this movie for its "artful exploration of the humanmind" and whatever, that's fine for about 1% of the population.Frankly, I would like that AND some suspense, which Shyamalan has shownhe can give us. He just didn't do it here.3/10 (I'm not gonna lie, it's because of Bryce Dallas Howard that thisfilm even got 3 from me)

Ahmad Sadali Ramli 2012-05-06 08:00:25

Irresistible Situations

** SPOILERS **One could not resist but to wonder: how a director such as M. NightShyamalan is able to churn out ideas after ideas for a complicated,twisted story that sticks in your head long after you walk out of thecinema?One could not resist but to ask: Why do I even bother to watch TheVillage, knowing that in the end, I would be given a shock of my lifewith yet another twist revelation?One could not resist but to declare: The Village is one of the mostinteresting movies that I had ever watched. Interesting in the sensethat the storyline contains many little sub-themes within a more movingcentral theme. The central theme is rather simple, in which we see an18th Century community living in fear of mythical creatures existing inthe woods. Within that, there are interweaving stories of love andhatred, hope and courage, imperfections and unpredictability. There arestories about the secrets in the past that somehow echoes the not sodistant future of the people living in fear. There are stories aboutsurvival and the will to secure peace at the expense of anything, oreverything.If you think M. Night's Sixth Sense had the greatest twist of all time,you wouldn't be disappointed at The Village. For there are in fact, ifI can more or less remember, four twists at the end. I wouldn'tpersonally say it is a better revelation than Sixth Sense, but it is,if I can mildly put, of the same equivalent.Immediately after watching Sixth Sense, I told myself that I should notmiss any of Night's upcoming films. He is a great storyteller, and hewrites everything for a reason, which is of course exemplary to anystudents learning how to write their first screenplay. His simplestoryline is always brought to life with great casts and uniquecinematography – with many shots usually plan with careful thoughts –mainly in the form of storyboards. He loves the traditional methods offilm-making and he seldom applies CGI to bring forward his ideas. Whilehis trademark for being in every film reminds me of Alfred Hitchcockand Malaysian's Aziz M. Osman – also a great Asian-born director andwriter, his other trademarks such as the use of water as a metaphor ofweaknesses and shooting scenes with reflections such as glasses,windows or mirrors are also noteworthy and are used effectively withinthe story. I personally love his idea of putting two different worlds into onegreat storyline, whereby in the end, the story reached its final climaxto bring about a different perspective in the way we see things –usually with just one spin of a twist. His layered multi-plots can bevery confusing at times but slowly when the denouement is out,everything else sweetly fell in place. He wrote characters that weresurrounded with problems, only to know later in development that theirburdens became the primary factor for living. In Sixth Sense, he playedthe idea of redemption, of putting right what went wrong in a worldlives by humans and the unseen spirits, and in Unbreakable, he toyedthe idea of how superheroes in comic books exist in real-time modernworld and to realize one's strength and responsibility. In Signs, heshowed that faith exists when everything else seems to fall apart andthat whatever happens (like crop circles, Mel Gibson's son asthmaticcondition and his daughter's hatred to water), did happened for areason. There are no chances or coincidences.The Village is about a 19th Century community living in fear ofmythical creatures existing in the woods. No one is allowed to talkabout them or go beyond the woods to reach to the other side. Themythical creatures attacked animals and skin them alive, taking theirskins, furs and bones. There is a strong force at work but whateveryone did was just hide. The philosophy: They do not disturb thecreatures, and the creatures will not disturb them. But when one of theresident, Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) decided to break the rules bystepping into the woods to gather medicines to provide better healthservice for the villagers, a much larger secret slowly unveils.There are clues to look out for as early as the show begins. Of course,I only realized this halfway through the show. With a second look, youwill get what you missed the first time round. There are moments youcan tell that everything is not right in The Village. But every sceneis worth viewing although at times, it is a little confusing – such asthe scene where the so called 'elders' are talking about those theyshould not speak of. How ironic?One brilliant scene is the romantic conversation scene between JoaquinPhoenix and Bryce Dallas Howard. There is an intense feeling thatsomething might just pop out of the misty woods during that scene. Alsothe scene where the creatures attacked the Village was well directed,leaving audiences barely any moment to breath. As for the casts, I mustgive thumbs up for Adrien Brody (The Pianist) for an excellent jobwell-done. His portrayal of a mischievous simpleton convinced all.Howard gave a top-notch performance as the blind girl named Ivy. ThoughPhoenix's character toned down during the second half of the movie, hegave a great performance as a man full of bravery and will. And of course, as usual, James Newton Howard's sweeping score gaveambiance to the otherwise dead scenarios.For those intending to watch The Village, you might expect anotherNight's 'twister'. However, if you start to think really hard, this oneis something much deeper, in terms of storyline and imageries. Itreflects the human's emotion and put us on a rather harsh perspectiveof the current situation we are living in.One could not resist but to ponder: Is men's fear, man himself?Rating: ***** out of *****

Lasse Elgaard 2012-05-06 01:47:33

Great movie, but not all the way.

The Village is a very well-written, well-casted, and well-producedmovie. Phoenix is always good, and this man has only one scar on hisCV. Ladder49, a extremely boring movie, which should've been 30 minshorter than it is. The sixth sense is very very spooky, and Signscould be a kind of War of the Worlds clone. Which is good! Phoenix isalso here good. And he's really nasty in Gladiator. And he's also goodin this movie, although he does not have the main role. The trailersand commercials for this film, made the viewer to believe that he did.But it's no big deal, because Bryce Dallas Howard does a stunning jobas Ivy Walker. The film is scary, and has a lot of moments where yousit and hug your pal in the seat next to you. The creatures in thismovie is more scary than the Aliens in "Alien" The only thing that isto complain about, is the ending. Which is so extremely stupid. Itseems like M. Night Shyamalan had to write the finish in a hurry,because it's not very thoughtfull, and does not fit the rest of themovie.But when everything comes everything it's a great movie, which shouldbe in every DVD-collection!

Ian Bradly 2012-05-05 05:01:13

Fantastic - but here is how you should walk into the theater

Don't see the movie for a twist that will have you gasping. See it for astory that will have you thinking.I wonder if Night's movies weren't marketed as "An M Night Shyamalan Film"people wouldn't have such expectations. So many people were down of it justby watching the preview.I hope M Night continues makes his movies. They are original andentertaining. Plus they are not some dumb remake of another movie or atelevision show.Bryce Dallas Howard's performance was worth the price of admissionalone.

teasz5 2012-05-04 23:13:14

Excellent

This movie was the best one I have seen in years! I usually sit throughmovies (even really good ones) and end up stating at some point "Thatcould have been done a little better." There was not one pointthroughout this movie that I thought this and I went into it preparedfor a scary or bizarre movie.Whenever I watch the "deleted scenes" I usually find at least one thatI believe would have added so much to the movie. However, even in thisarea I ended up nodding my head at the accuracy of his thoughts as towhy they were deleted. This includes the final woods scene that Ithought had a LOT going for it. He was absolutely on the mark toexclude it when it came to the tone already set by the previous scenes.I rarely purchase videos or DVDs but this is a MUST for my tinycollection!

chitta 2012-05-02 08:37:17

one of the point of Shyamalan's movies

One of the point in many of the Shyamalan's movies is the clues that heleaves in the movie -- that often go unnoticed the first time, so thatone can watch it the 2nd time and 3rd time to see the consistency ofthe clues with the so called 'twist' endings.SPOILER AHEADIn this movie from the very beginning there is a mention of townsoutside the village. I don't think it is a big deal what year it is.The mystery to me was who the 'creatures' are and who is doing the badthings. I had an inkling that it had something to do with the WilliamHurt character; but I did not quite figure out the whole thingbeforehand. After the truth is told to Ivy, and she is attacked in theforest, I started thinking may be there are real creatures. I did notcatch that twist at all. My wife thought Ivy was imagining.I plan to watch it at least one more time to figure what what cluesShyamalan left in regards to who the creature is. Based on the commentson this board, I will be looking for missing people and any such clues.I think that would be fun.Also, I think many reviewer's do not give good reviews to Shyamalan'smovies because (i) They are used to watching movies once, and Shyamalanwants his audience to watch his movies at least twice to appreciate theclues and hints he meticulously puts in a consistent manner, (ii)Shyamalan does not suck up to these reviewers; he lives in Phily (notin Hollywood), and (iii) Many of the reviewer's think how dare hewrite, direct and produce his movies. They think Shyamalan has a bigego. ... How dare he be different?

Nicole P. 2012-05-01 22:14:36

Interesting...

I love "The Sixth Sense". I think it is an absolutely amazing film."Unbreakable" was excellent along with "Signs", but I unfortunatelycan't say the same about "The Village". I went to see this movieexpecting something completely different from what I received. Don'tget me wrong, I think that this is a great film and worth watching, butI think that Shyamalan can do better. The twist was the best part ofthe whole movie. The plot was good but the movie was kind of slow. Notas much as suspense as other of his films. Also, not as much JoaquinPhoenix as I thought there would be. Bryce Dallas Howard was excellentas Ivy and she did a great job for her first movie. Overall it is worthwatching, but not as memorable as his other films.

rockinrory 2012-04-30 05:39:08

This disaster was a total letdown and waste of money.

I feel that this movie had MUCH more money spent on hyped advertisingthan it did on production. It seems to have been a rushed effort, asTOO many details of the script were left out and many occurrences lefthanging.I won't mention the loose ends and spoil your viewingbut......I promise....you will walk away with A lot of questions that gounanswered.also, it is a VERY low budget production. The only positiveremarks I have are for the acting of Miss Howard and WilliamHurt.......other than that....the film should beburnt...........Sorry....gotta stop the motion picture company's fromchurning out mediocre trash with expensive hype machinery....RockinRory(Movie goer since 1962)

heilmane 2012-04-29 18:44:39

I don't understand all the criticism

Everyone who criticizes The Village's twists or style clearly has notseen any other M. Night Shyamalan movies, and if you have, did you likethose either? Shyamalan has a distinct and unique style that wasestablished in his first three movies, and his newest is not anexception to that style. The point of all of his movies is not in factthe scare tactics, but instead he uses those scare tactics as a vehicleto make a larger comment on different aspects of humanity. Therefore,if you don't appreciate that, fine. If you want to be scared bymindless gore, then that's fine too, but don't go see a Shyamalan movieexpecting that and then criticize him for making movies in his ownstyle.I for one found The Village to be scary at times, funny at times, andreally thought provoking which is very much the same way I felt aboutSigns. The music was excellent, and while the first half an hour Ifound it difficult to really feel attached to the characters, afterthat I became completely engrossed in the characters particularly thoseplayed by Bryce Dallas Howard and Joaquin Phoenix. Both Howard andPhoenix did a stupendous job and I think that once again Shyamalanshould be congratulated on not only a great story and cinematography,but also for his choice of cast.