Review of The Village (2004) by Matthew D — 16 Oct 2018

A thoughtful movie that is widely misunderstood.

When I first watched M. Night Shyamalan's film The Village (2004), I despised it for its contrived twist ending like so many. After revisiting it, The Village is a thoroughly entertaining movie, a beautifully shot film by cinematographer Roger Deakins, a lovingly scored film by James Newton Howard, and incredibly well directed by M. Night. Despite its disappointing twist ending, The Village is a great film.

I better appreciate M. Night's efforts of filmmaking and The Village's setup towards its unlikely payoff. All the clues were there and The Village does prepare you for the impact of the finale with many lines of dialogue and visual hints. In hindsight, I actually really like The Village. It is not on the level of Unbreakable (2000) or The Sixth Sense (1999), but The Village has aged nicely in retrospect.

The acting is top notch in The Village. A young Bryce Dallas Howard is wonderful as the blind Ivy. She is so sympathetic and complex like few women characters at the time. Joaquin Phoenix is excellent as the quiet and reserved Lucius. Adrien Brody pulls off the simple Noah with a tender compassion and understanding of his troubled character. Lastly, William Hurt is impressive as the village elder Edward trying to do the right thing. The Village has a massive cast of familiar faces and devastating performances. They all hold up nicely.

Overall, The Village is a movie worth watching once to see if you will like it. It is controversial and infamous for its perhaps poorly thought out twist, but I found the film lets you in on the secret earlier on so that you are ready to experience it. If you can just believe its hard to accept premise, I think you will enjoy the movie after all this time. I did not think I would like it so much, but due to the clever writing, outstanding performances, lovely lighting, thoughtful use of color, gorgeous camera movements, and creative direction, The Village is worth a revisit.