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The Village
Directed by M Night Shyamalan. Story: Not telling. Running Time: 109 minutes.
I don't want to tell you anything about The Village. My job is to give you enough information for you to decide whether or not you're going to dig it, without affecting your enjoyment of it, should you decide to follow through. If I were to tell you the story, the best bits or even describe the characters of The Village, I'd tarnish the experience, dropping crisps on the clean sheets of a good Night's dreams.
Personally, I rate The Village as M Night Shyamalan's worst film that I've seen to date, after Unbreakable, Signs and The Sixth Sense, in that order. But that is nothing less than a spanking reflection on how good a director he is - as I still thoroughly enjoyed The Village. Even my favourite director Tim Burton has made some ho-hummers, but I have yet to see an M Night Shyamalan picture that is anything less than captivating. Long may it continue. P.S. I choose to ignore that he wrote the the screenplay for Stuart Little. Though you have to admit, that was still pretty fun. I enjoyed this film: I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: (he's an acquired taste) Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: It's a bit spooky. To enjoy this film you should be: A fan of M Night Shyamalan, or never having seen Unbreakable or Signs, looking for something a bit different. You can probably get away with finding The Sixth Sense average.
To buy The Village, use this link: To buy M Night Shyamalan's previous films, click the picture below:
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Your commentsThe comments printed here are not necessarily the views of Forwardcharm!
i thought the film was great but there was just a really bad ending
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Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrien Brody, Brendan Gleeson, Michael Pitt. 
So that leaves me with a little problem. If I can't talk about the film, how can I help you
to decide whether it's your kind of film? Maybe I can bang on for a while about Shyamalana-ding-dong's previous creations.
Fans of M (don't tell anyone M actually stands for "Manoj") will be intimately familiar with The Sixth Sense,
Unbreakable and Signs.
They're the films with which Mr Shyamalan made his name, and they're the films that make people part with their
hard-earned cash to see The Village. Yes, Sigourney Weaver's in it. Yes, Adrien Brody (from The Pianist) is in it.
Yes, Willam Hurt's in it, though I for one would not have recognised him had I not wondered half an hour in where he was -
and realised I'd already seen him several times. But these names are, refreshingly, incidental to the show.
We're here to watch M work his magic and for no other reason.
It's A Good Thing that the director is the draw, because it means we are willing to see plot,
we are willing to see suspense, we are willing to sacrifice showmanship for the sorcery of cinematography.
But it's also A Bad Thing, because those previous films were pretty darned good, so the critics will always
be carping on about how it's not as good in such-and-such an area as its predecessors.
They're right, inasmuch as the suspense isn't as taut as Signs, the plot isn't as unpredictable
as The Sixth Sense, and the sheer watchability isn't up to Unbreakable. However, as usual with mainstream critics,
this misses the point. This isn't supposed to be a cash-in, it's an evolution.
If you're the kind of person who concentrates on a film, this will captivate you in just the same way
as M's previous efforts. However, in the same way, if you saw Signs at the cinema and were left flat,
then The Village will do nothing to convert you.
