Review of The Village (2004) by Paul D — 02 Jun 2014

I know there's a lot of hate directed at M. Night Shyamalan, but I actually like most of his films quite a lot. SPOILERS! "Unbreakable" is has to be one of the coolest superhero origin stories ever (mostly because you don't realize it's a superhero film until partway through the film) and "Signs" is one of my favorite alien invasion films (mostly because it's what us ordinary folks would be doing during an alien invasion, which would be cowering in our homes and watching evens unfold on TV).

"Devil," written and produced by Shyamalan was also a tight little horror film that's quite underrated. However, he does have some clunkers. "Lady in the Water" was pretty weak, "The Sixth Sense" was interesting but overrated, and "The Village" would have made a great 30 minute Twilight Zone episode, but at a feature length film it feels pretty padded.

Like his other films, this one has a pretty good twist, but the lead-up to the twist seemed unnecessarily overlong and only sporadically interesting. The scenes involving the monster and the safety line surrounding the village are suspenseful and scary, but it's all the quaint village scenes that drag on.

I know that's part of the point of The Village, honoring a simpler way of life, but it doesn't make it any more interesting to watch. Possibly if the reveal had some at the end of the first act instead of the second act, the film would not have felt as tedious.

Instead, the simple life of the village is drawn out and far longer than needed. There's a terrific cast that includes Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrien Brody, Brendan Gleeson, Judy Greer and Jesse Eisenberg, a wonderfully creepy score by James Newton Howard and terrifically moody photography by Roger Deakins.

It all well crafted, but overlong.