Film: The Village

[dj.appeal]

i am aghast at the results...

i enjoyed all of m.night's previous work(exception:unbreakable)especially signs, so i was expecting something big and i was pleasantly given something better. the teasers had me believe it was a monster flick(given m.night's past that would've been reasonable), but no...not this one.

the twist was well-delivered because it still left room for more twists, such as the time era. even after i knew the creatures were a hoax i still thought it was a period piece as the characters say, 'town' as opposed to 'city'.

i think this was bryce's first film(ivy)and what an ease it is to watch her and playing a blind character at that. i will keep both eyes glued to anything she makes as long as is possible. the other players speak for themselves through their veteran accomplishments, william hurt, sigourney weaver, jaoquin phoenix.

the soundtrack is top-notch as i had chills throughout the movie and it was all due to the excellent sound design. i am in the process of buying the soundtrack currently.

finally, did i mention bryce? i suppose there's something about disabled women that invokes in me the male instinct of being a protector...that extra protection needed instills some extra attraction. in any case i think the character was awesome and the actress is destined for great success.

i never knew there were so many uncultured low-class peasants on bl because that is exactly what you must be in order to say anything negative about this film or at the least you have horrendously vile and putrescent taste.

 

[Banquo]

oh yuck. what a shit ending. roger ebert's review put it best:

"To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It's a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from It Was All a Dream."

to its credit, the film has beautiful look and maybe even some original style. in my opinion, Unbreakable is still M. Night Shyamalan's best with Signs and The Village each progressively worse. hopefully, his next effort will be better.

the original ending (which was kind of how i thought the film would end about halfway through) had to be reshot, according to IMDB. it might have worked better:



***SPOILERS BELOW***

The ending to this movie was changed. It originally ended with Ivy running onto a highway.... and had a conversation between a truck driver and a gas station attendant. Five months after the shooting wrapped the ending was re-shot.

 

[tinker420]

The movie sucked. I've never been to a movie where the entire theatre litterally said WTF at the end of a movie. I remember sitting there for a moment thinking maybe it was gonna come back on with a better ending. I did however enjoy the $20 popcorn and soda I had, made it all worth it(along with the butter stain on my pant leg)

 

[genaro]

same for me

 

[slushy muddy water]

ditto

 

[glitterbizkit]

Jesus, people, stop bitching!!! ---> it had JOAQUIN PHOENIX in it which is enough to make it worth watching. *drool*

Seriously though, I liked it. Maybe it wasn't 'good'... but it was a cosy movie, I liked it. And it had Joaquin Phoenix, how could I complain?

 

[Dandy]

I thought this film was great and what timing considering its social commentary and the Bush administration and all that in the States. I think Shyamalan is a genius and the plot twists and the link certainly kept me entertained throughout. With Shyamalan films once can expect subtle references to the "shock" factor each provides and I thought the blind girl character was a great touch and considering it was the actresses feature-film debut she did a great job.

 

[LapDawg]

The design and execution of the shots were top notch, as well as the sound editing and score. The acting was solid all around, and Bryce Howard is stunning, but I couldn't stand listening to her voice on the dvd diary.I even thought the delivery of the plot was solid and the film flowed pretty well....all the way until the end, that is.

and boy, was that ending a real cop out. It was a terrible way to finish a promising story...absolutely classless in terms of narrative filmmaking.




SPOILER QUESTION BELOW.
















Exactly how are we supposed to know if their way of life continues or not if we don't even get to see Lucius's reaction to the truth? He is supposed to lead once all the elders pass, is he not? Oh, and he DEFINITELY chose the right sister. mmmm hot blind girls. %)

 

[mayantripper]

I think it's a mature script. An honest experiment about an experiment made by people who did not want to suffer no more. I think it is an excellent movie.

 

[rm-rf]

i thought it was a pretty cool movie.

 

[mariacallas]

I did not read a single review of this film and maybe thats why I enjoyed it so much....I expected nothing. I went into this film without preconceptions about M. Night Shyamalan or his previous work either. And wow....it blew me away.
Yes, this film was marketed poorly. Yes, the trailers were misguided, which quite possibly lead most audiences to expect a gripping suspense/horror film. It is a suspenseful watch but I wouldnt label it horror.

What it is, is a wonderful feat of nuanced storytelling. Its fantastic in its subleties. The atmosphere is great, the cast is superb, and what I mostly love about it, is its cleverness. It's logical and and whatever you say about it, it's CONSISTENT. Compared to the other Hollywood crap "horror" films dished in recent memory, this is a very good watch.

I can understand how those who went to see it with expectations may hate it..so I'm glad I didnt.

 

[mariacallas]

Like the Blair Witch project, I know the feeling.

Dont even DARE go there. Blair Bitch is like the dirt under the retards toenails compared to this movie.

PPS. I also freaked when I saw the jeep

 

[posner]

I watched about twenty-thirty minutes of the movie and then made my friend turn it off because it was so awful.

 

[ChemicalSmiles]

I thought the movie was fucking horrible. If I wasnt so high at the time I probably would have left the theatre before it was over.

 

[randycaver]

^ lol. perhaps if you watched it while you weren't HIGH you would have gotten it?? I don't understand that point of view.

This movie was not bad, in my opinion. I went into it hating most other movies by this guy, but I knew what this one was about this time. I thought that for what it was, it was well done, and I liked the story. It's not realistic at all.. but it was kind of neat. The ending was too neat, of course, but .. that is pretty typical lately.