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Movie Review - The Village (2004)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
M. Night Shyamalan |
| Starring: |
Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrian Brody, Sigourney Weaver, and William Hurt |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for a scene of violence and frightening situations) |
| Length: |
108 minutes |
| Genre: |
Thriller/Drama |
| Website: |
The Village |
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PLOT
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It's the year 1897, and life in the village has been peaceful thus far. The people of the village have made a
pact with the creatures who live in the woods surrounding the village. They stay in the village, and the creatures
remain in the woods, and each leaves the others alone. However, when Lucius Hunt (Phoenix) begins to push the
boundaries, sinister things begin to happen to the village. Has Lucius angered the creatures, or is something
else going on? A thriller that is to be seen as social commentary ensues.
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MS. CALI'S TAKE
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I spent my weekend in the movie theater, seeing The Bourne Supremacy
(MUCH better than the first movie, which I hated) on Friday night, and then
The Manchurian Candidate and The Village back to back on Saturday. Normally, by the third movie,
I'd be bored and unable to sit in a theater any longer. Thankfully, that wasn't the case with this movie.
I like to call M. Night Shyamalan the Alfred Hitchcock of today. If you've seen his previous movies (The Sixth
Sense, Unbreakable, Signs), you'll know this already, but if not, The Village is a good
place to start (but seriously, go watch the others too). Night is a master of suspense. Even if you figure out
what's really going on (and he does provide some really blatant hints), he throws in enough twists to keep you
on the edge of your seat. This is the type of movie that makes you think you know what's going on, and then he
throws a twist into the plot that slowly reveals a whole other message entirely. And in true Night tradition,
the story is allegorical.
The casting director for this movie deserves an Oscar (do they even give those? I know they give Emmys for casting,
so I can only assume that is an Oscar category as well). Newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard
steals the movie as Ivy Walker, the blind daughter of the town leader and love interest of Lucius. She's nothing
short of brilliant. The remaining cast is great as well, with Phoenix as the quiet Lucius and Brody as Noah, the
mentally challenged friend of Ivy, both giving Oscar-worthy performances (as does Howard). Which makes me torn,
because I would say Brody and Liev Schrieber (The Manchurian
Candidate) both deserve the award for Supporting Actor.
Was this movie as scary as some of Night's other films? As someone who is very easily scared (and yet, I always
have to see his movies!), I would rank this movie as #2 on the Night Scary Meter. I was able to stay in the
theater the whole time, which I couldn't do during Signs, but I hid my face a bit more than I did during
The Sixth Sense (and we won't count Unbreakable, because I saw that on TV, interrupted by
commercials and didn't pay attention to half of it, so it wasn't scary at all). According to Joel Siegel, there
are two genuinely scream-worthy moments in The Village, but I could only figure out what one of them was.
Don't get me wrong though; this movie is plenty scary just because it holds the suspense so well. There are
some moments that are *almost* scream-worthy as well. And it was a true relief to see a great movie that relied
on the script and the acting instead of CGI effects.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Personally, I enjoyed this film. I didn't find it all that scary, although it does have its moments, but what's
most important is that it keeps a level of suspense and tension throughout. I was continually guessing and
trying to fill in the blanks on my own. And hey, that's good enough to keep me entertained.
As far as the ending goes, well, it's gonna make or break the movie for a lot of you. I don't think it is
as effective as the endings of The Sixth Sense or Signs, but I will say that at least it did surprise
me. There are a few obligatory twists along the way that aren't exactly earth shattering (yet still effective),
but the revelation at the end is the big surprise. Is it completely satisfying? Not for me. I had my own idea
of how I wanted things to turn out, but hey, it's M. Night's vision, so I can appreciate it on that level.
The revelation does turn the movie upside down, so if you're the type who gets easily upset when a movie doesn't
turn out completely how you expect, then you could be disappointed. But chances are, if you see this movie with
somebody else, then you WILL be talking about it afterwards.
There are some minor annoyances in the film. I don't think the story is as tight as The Sixth Sense or
Signs. There just seem to be a few more plot holes, none of which I can discuss here, but all of which I
can easily make fun of. If you've seen the movie then email me and we'll talk. One of the things we'll most
likely talk about is William Hurt's Jeff Bridges impersonation. And the dialogue is a little laughable at times.
Why did they have to use so many Yoda-esque phrases? "The old shed that is not to be used"?? And if the
creatures are "those we don't speak of" then WHY DO THEY SPEAK OF THEM SO MUCH?!?!?!
Ah well, for me it's all stuff that is easily overlooked. What M. Night has done is taken a vision and constructed
it into a suspenseful little story, never giving away too much at any one time. He messes with your mind and
completely manipulates you until the very end. I have no problem with that. It's a movie! Manipulate my emotions
all you want! Slap me around, and I'll thank you for it later! If you're the type who likes everything completely
straightforward, well, you've been warned.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- M. Night Shyamalan continues the Alfred Hitchcock tradition of movie cameos - in this movie, look for him
near the end reading a newspaper.
- Ivy Walker's sister, Kitty (Judy Greer), played Lucy in 13 Going On 30,
which comes out on DVD soon and which Ms. Cali highly recommends.
- Kirsten Dunst was originally set to play Ivy Walker, but she dropped out to star in Elizabethtown
instead. Johnny shed no tears over this.
- Bryce Dallas Howard is Ron Howard's daughter.
- Originally titled The Woods.
- Frank Collison played one of the village elders (and the village doctor). He was Horace in Dr. Quinn
Medicine Woman, which also starred William Shockley who played Jake Colter in The Young Riders, which
starred Josh Brolin, who was in The Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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There's nothing offensive about this movie - no language, no sex, etc. There is a bit of blood, but nothing you
wouldn't see on TV (actually, it's less graphic than some things you would see on ER or CSI). The movie is scary
though, and I wouldn't recommend it for children because of that. Also, the underlying message in the movie is a
bit more than children would understand.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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Night doesn't want you to know what this movie is really about until he reveals it, so of course, the trailers
are rather misleading. However, if the trailer makes you think this is a good movie that will keep you in suspense
the whole time, then you won't be disappointed. My impression from the trailer was that this was a movie that
would have a great story and be very well made, but would be too scary for me to handle. Thankfully, I was wrong
on that last count.
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THE GIST
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Ms. Cali: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the
oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." H.P. Lovecraft
I believe that sums up The Village perfectly.
Johnny: The thing I like about M. Night's movies is that going in you
know there is gonna be some sort of a puzzle. You can sit back and watch the pieces fall into place, or you can
try to solve everything yourself. The Village isn't the most tightly constructed puzzle that Night has
assembled, but it never failed to keep me in suspense and entertained.
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