M. Night Shyamalan's portentous period thriller wrings some efficient thrills from these clichéd elements, but collapses under the weight of a labored and unsatisfying ending.
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07/30/04
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The Village (2004)
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Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:194
Fresh:82
Rotten:112
Average Rating:5.4/10
Consensus: The Village is appropriately creepy, but Shyamalan's signature twist ending disappoints.
Theatrical Release:Jul 30, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $114,170,863
Synopsis: M. Night Shyamalan's THE VILLAGE finds the renowned writer-director crafting a suspenseful story of a small community whose inhabitants are plagued by fear of the unknown forest that surrounds... [More]
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
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Reviews for The Village
It's the lack of a genuine wizard behind the curtain that robs The Village of much of its suspense, but the movie has merits that go beyond goosebumps.
07/30/04
Top CriticDumb's the word.
07/30/04
What seemed so interesting and unconventional about the plot grasps for an ending, spinning the film in a direction that is forced, rushed and incongruous with all that preceded it.
07/30/04
This is bad, amateur work given a superficial veneer of professionalism.
07/30/04
Top Critic[Shyamalan is] in complete command of his forces, more subtle and sustained.
07/30/04
This movie is as big a hoax as the notorious Sci Fi Channel faux documentary The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan.
07/30/04
For those who like the director's body of work, appreciate The Twilight Zone, and have a high suspension of disbelief threshold, The Village is likely to satisfy.
07/30/04
Top CriticThe Village is a film wherein the whole is sadly less than the sum of its eerie parts.
07/30/04
It's not very scary. And absent the skin-crawling, hair-raising magic that usually attends a Shyamalan movie, The Village is a bit of a long sit.
07/30/04
Far more interesting as a trip than a destination.
07/30/04
Thriller is hardly the word for this tedious exercise in clue-hiding.
07/30/04
High on foreboding atmospherics and low on goosebumps.
07/30/04
Top CriticThere is no doubt that Shyamalan is a gifted director who knows how to push audience buttons, but heavy-handed horror shows like this one make the man behind the camera seems less an artist than a huckster.
07/30/04
Top CriticIt's tedious instead of provocative and so unconvincing as to be preposterous.
07/30/04
Top CriticThe Village doesn't quite return Shyamalan to the heights of The Sixth Sense. But it's close enough for discomfort.
07/30/04
Yields more genuine rewards in retrospect or on subsequent viewings.
07/30/04
The movie starts off as a psychological thriller and then turns into a tale about the transformative power of love. Neither of these two story paths, alas, is particularly riveting.
07/30/04
Shyamalan's best film since The Sixth Sense.
07/30/04
Top CriticShyamalan's most mature and least showy film to date.
07/30/04
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