Review of The Village (2004) by Kai82 — 24 Oct 2022

The crucial point of the M. Night Shyamalan movies is the twist. If done right like in the “The sixth Sense” or “Unbreakable” it is an amazing experience. Here it weakens the movie. I fully enjoyed the setting, premise, actors and story until the reveal aka trwist.

To be fair the twist is not garbage and I see a bit of creativity in it. It just failed to convince me and a lot of the other audience. The story is set in the remote “village” “ Covington in approx 1897.

The inhabitants life seemingly in peace but there are monsters inhabiting the surrounding forests. The people have made a pact with “Those we don’t speak of” how they call these. The events start to unfold when a man named Lucius is injured and his soon to be wife the blind Ivy wants to safe him but the only medicine is beyond the forest.

I stop here to avoid spoilers. I like the atmospheric story and setting. It was intense, scary and immersive. However like I said the reveal / twist harmed the movie a lot. It feels forced or lets say like an idea that looks good on paper but fails in reality.

It would be far better without it just keeping to the premise. The actors were excellently chosen. Bryce Dallas Howard as Ivy is amazingly good and fully convincing. Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Adrien Brody, Sigourney Weaver and the other actors also deliver a really good performance.

In this regard it is a really strong movie without a doubt. I also praise the sets, visuals and costumes. They improved the atmosphere and immersion. Overall this is a really good movie that could be in the 9-10/10 range without the harming twist.

I still give a 6/10 because of the atmosphere, story up until the twist and great acting.