I have seen all the movies that M. Night Shyamalan has made. I loved The Sixth Sense and Signs. I did like Unbreakable too, but not as much as the other movies. I have been seeing previews for The Village for several months now, and I wanted to see the movie.
There is a village where people live simple lives. The people stay in the village and don’t venture past the boundaries into the woods. It has always been that way since the village was started by the elders years ago. There were creatures living in the woods. As long as the people from the village stayed out of the woods, the creatures would leave the people alone and stay out of the village. They did hear strange sounds from the woods at times. The elders still had control in the village, and they made all the important decisions. Some people mentioned the town they used to live in, but not much was ever said. To get to the town, they would have to travel through the woods. They had gardens and livestock and managed on their own fine for the most part. The color red was considered bad and would attract the creatures. They dressed in yellow cloaks at different times. Lucius Hunt was upset by certain things that happened in the village. He wanted to travel through the woods to the town. His mother Alice was one of the elders.
Lucius seemed to keep to himself. He was very surprised when Kitty Walker declared her love for him. Kitty’s father, Edward, was another of the elders. He seemed to be who the others looked to for guidance. Kitty was very upset that Lucius didn’t return her feelings, but she recovered quickly and married someone else. There were some feelings between Lucius and Ivy, Kitty’s younger sister. Ivy was blind, though she could see a special color for some people. The color was different for every person. The relationship between Ivy and Lucius did grow. Ivy was friends with Noah Percy, a young man who had some kind of mental problem. Noah didn’t really understand what was going on at times. He wasn’t disturbed by the sounds in the woods like many others were.
Some strange things started to happen. People found dead animals that were skinned. The elders claimed that a coyote did it. One night, the creatures entered the town and left red marks on the doors. Edward believed they were warning the people of the village. Another night after that, several animals were killed at one time. Something happened that caused Ivy to ask to travel to the town.
CAST
Bryce Dallas Howard - Ivy Walker
Joaquin Phoenix - Lucius Hunt
William Hurt - Edward Walker
Sigourney Weaver - Alice Hunt
Adrien Brody- Noah
Brendan Gleeson - August Nicholson
Judy Greer - Kitty Walker
Frank Collison - Victor
The Village was released in July of 2004. The movie was 108 minutes long and rated PG-13. There really wasn’t anything too disturbing in the movie that kids should see. I don’t think this is a movie that many kids would be interested in seeing though.
The previews made it seem like The Village would be a very scary movie. It was promoted like it was a horror movie. I didn’t think it was a horror movie at all. There were one or two moments in the movie that were a little scary and that was it. This wasn’t a scary movie at all. I don’t think it should have been advertised and promoted like it would be that scarey when it really wasn’t because that has caused many people to be disappointed with the movie. Even before I read anything about the movie once it was released, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be as scarey as the previews made it out to be. I did think it would be just a bit scarier and more suspenseful than it ended up being. I didn’t really think Shyamalan’s other movies were that scarey either, though there were scarey moments in them. The movies were more suspenseful.
There was some suspense in The Village, but not too much. Most of the suspense that was in the movie was created by the lighting or creepy sounding music that was used. The lighting was dark in some scenes since there was no electricity in the village, and they just used candles. The lighting was fine during the day, but there were a lot of shadows in some of the scenes taking place at night. That did make some things seem a bit creepy. The music that was used did match the mood for the scenes most of the time. There were other times when it seemed obvious to me that the music was trying to make whatever was happening scarey when it really wasn’t. The music got very loud at times, or it suddenly blared out. The music getting so loud all of a sudden did make me jump once. Something happened in the movie at that time was supposed to be scarey, but it was the loud music that made me jump. There were times when I was thinking something else would happen because of the lighting and the music, but it didn’t happen.
I thought that The Village focused more in on the people and their lives. Time was spent to establish how things were done in the village. The elders had meetings to discuss things that would affect the village. They made decisions regarding what the people in the village would do. The elders had established the village years before the movie started. The elders did have some secrets that were shared near the end of the movie. Those things did explain certain things. Some people will be disappointed with the explanations. Ivy’s relationship with Noah was shown. The development of the relationship between Ivy and Lucius was shown, but it wasn’t fully explored. Ivy alone became the main focus near the end of the moving when she had to do something. It was hinted that Alice and Edward had feelings for each other, but neither did anything about them. There were one or two kisses shown and that was it. There were no love scenes or nudity. There was very little romance in the movie. Since there was focus in on the people and how they lived, there wasn’t too much action in the movie. There were several slow moments throughout the movie. Those parts didn’t bother me, but some people may find those scenes to be boring. People looking for an action-packed movie should look for something else.
There was a little bit of mystery in The Village related to the woods and the creatures. The people in the village weren’t supposed to ever cross into the woods. The people were afraid of the creatures and the woods. The creatures were shown much sooner than I expected them to be shown. Some things about them weren’t shared until later. There was more explanation about the founding of the village included later in the movie as well. Some people will probably be disappointed by some or even all of the explanations. Some of the explanations were shared though a flashback, which I thought was a little different. The rest of the explanation didn’t come until very late in the movie. Those things did make it clearer why Edward let Ivy do something.
I had no idea who Bryce Dallas Howard was before I saw The Village. She is Ron Howard’s daughter. I did a little checking and it looks like she had a few small roles in some of her father’s movies. She became the main focus of the movie. She was wonderful as Ivy, a blind character. I think she was believable in the part. She is a very talented young woman and I think she will have a successful acting career. Joaquin Phoenix was good as Lucius. Phoenix played a bigger part in the movie Signs. He has been in several movies, and played some different parts. He provided the voice for a main character in the animated movie Brother Bear. Adrian Brody was good as Noah. I haven’t seen him in any other movies before this one. William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver didn’t have too much to do, but they were good in their parts. Brendan Gleeson did fine with his small part. He had a much different part in Cold Mountain. I recently read that he has been cast in the next Harry Potter movie. I am curious to see how his character will be turn out in that movie. Judy Greer played a supporting part in The Wedding Planner. I think her part as Kitty was smaller in this movie. She didn’t have much to do in this movie. Frank Collison’s part as Victor mostly consisted of him standing around in some scenes. He only had a few lines. His part was more important in The Whole Ten Yards. Collison was in the television show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman for the entire run of that show.
CHARACTERS
Ivy Walker - Young, blind woman that lived in the village. She was cheerful most of the time. She was stronger than some people thought she was. Her father was one of the elders.
Lucius Hunt - Young man that lived in the village. He was quiet and kept to himself most of the time. He cared about the people in the village, and didn’t agree with all of the decisions the elders made. His mother was an elder.
Noah Percy - Young man that had some kind of mental problem. He didn’t understand most things that went on in the village. He did some questionable things.
Edward Walker - On of the elders of the town. People seemed to look to him for guidance. He taught the children and did mention that he had taught in the town before he came to the village. He was a kind man that wanted to do what was best for the people of the village. He was conflicted about some things. He was Ivy and Kitty’s father.
Alice Hunt - Lucius’s mother. She was another elder. She was concerned about the things that were happening in the village.
Kitty - Ivy’s older sister. Kitty seemed to be a bit flighty at times. She decided she loved Lucius and was shocked that he didn’t return her feelings. She cried a lot because he didn’t return her feelings, but she got over him rather quickly and married another man.
I did end up enjoying The Village even though it wasn’t exactly what I expected. I can see why some people have been very disappointed with the movie though. The movie did have some flaws, but I think it can be enjoyable if you expectations aren’t too high. This movie is different from the others Shyamalan has made, and that will probably disappoint some people. If someone goes into his movie expecting a really scarey movie, they will be disappointed. Movies like this one make me wish there was an option of maybe here for if I recommend it. This one definitely isn’t for everyone. It isn’t even for everyone who has liked other movies by Shyamalan. If expectations aren’t too high, and people know going in that it isn’t a scarey movie and a bit different, then it can be enjoyable. If the expectations are too high, people will more than likely be disappointed. This is another movie where I wish we could add half stars. If we could, I’d give it three and a half stars. Since I can’t, I’m rounding it up to four since I do think it is better than three.
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