Customer Reviews
The Village..That Nobody Knows About - By: Gary Morgan, 13 Sep 2008 
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being good & 1 being utter s***e I give The Village a score of minus 6.
DO NOT WASTE TIME OR MONEY WITH THIS FILM!!!!!! I've made that mistake already so you don't have to.
The plot is wafer thin, you'll see the so callled twist long before the end. By the time you've guessed what is going on stop the film & eject it because at this point you'll only be 5 minutes into the film & you can watch something else instead.
Predictable - By: Ms. E. J. Robinson, 28 Aug 2008 From the outset this film had an interesting idea that had potential; unfortunately the execution seemed to waste the chance for what seemed the makings of a good movie. Shyamalan failed to live up to his earlier success in `The sixth sense' & I found the plot twists were predictable & unsurprising. The film has a kind of `Scooby-doo' adolescent feel to it (it starts off ok till "those meddling kids" go to investigate & discover it's a guy in a mask.)
The ending is a complete anti-climax too in which the director appears to milk it for alll its worth. By this point I found myself willing something to happen so that I didn't feel I had wasted 107minutes of my life watching something that had already put the rest of my family to sleep. If you want an alternative to counting sheep before bed this is the film for you...
Village Or Prison? - By: Northern Warrior, 12 Aug 2008 
The plot has been largely summarised in the other reviews & of course it is very difficult to comment on aspects of the movie without giving away the denouement.
A good, visuallly stunning movie with a compelling music score, but to be honest I saw the "twist" coming less than half way through. This type of story telling is very much "one shot" as with MNS's other efforts. Subsequent viewings are seen in a rather different context. In fact, I found myself railing at the Elders, in that no matter how much they may wish to preserve a way of life does that give them the right to with-hold medical treatment, deny children a sophisticated education or choice whether they leave the community or stay, etc? And if a criminal act has been committed then surely the person responsible is still culpable to the relevant authorities (unless they were planning to "suicide" Noah anyway)?
In fact, the more times I watch (and admittedly still enjoy) the movie, the more plot holes there are. I find I empathise rather less than with MNS presumed sympathy toward why the founders created the village & more to the suppressed rights of the residents. Besides, there is no way a community so smalll could be truly independent of the outside world, whatever the time period. Things break & need replacing, raw materials & equipment would need to be brought in etc. etc. Where did alll those plush furnishings come from?
I think The Village is still superior to Signs (which was never quite the same after Scary Movie 3 lampooned it) or indeed Unbreakable. I hope it eventuallly gets a Blu-Ray release as the visuals would reallly benefit from a HD transfer but that doesn't mean you can quite overcome the implausabiliy of it alll.
Not the best M. Night Shyamalan film - By: Omac, 10 Aug 2008 I bought this film after watching Signs & the Sixth Sense & I have to say it is not in the same league.
Set in an isolated village in the middle of a forest, this story is one of a community living a life in fear of the monsters in the wood.
The setting is good, & so are the characters but changing the main character half-way through was not a good move by Shyamalan. It messed up the flow of the story & from there, the film was only heading downwards.
The twist at the end spoiled the film & left me feeling that there was no point to the last hour & half i spent watching it.
I gave this film a 3 star because of the averagness of the film. It was bearable but not one i would watch over & over again.
Not so quiet a life - By: sft, 20 Jul 2008 Fans of the writer/director M. Night Shyamalan will not be disappointed by this movie, as The Village uses many of the themes familiar to his work. Beautifully designed & photographed this is a twisting tale of lost innocence that takes place in & around an isolated, Amish-like village. There is much to keep the viewer both intrigued & entertained here. Enjoyable, even if the ending, which seems to satisfy at first, soon becomes implausible on retrospection.
