The Village (2004) Movie Review

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The Village – ABC Film Challenge – Favourites – V – The Village – Movie Review

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Writer: M. Night Shyamalan (Screenplay)

Cast

Sigourney Weaver (Aliens)
William Hurt (A History of Violence)
Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)
Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World)
Adrien Brody (The Pianist)

Plot: A series of events tests the beliefs of a small isolated countryside village.

Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Village starts as we meet a small community living in an area surrounded by woodlands. Alice Hunt (Weaver) and Edward Walker (Hurt) watch over the community, including pushing for strict rules to be followed. Nobody can go into the woods because of a deal done with the monsters in the woods.

However, when Lucius Hunt (Phoenix) is stabbed by Noah Percy (Brody) the community must decide whether to break the rules. This could help save his life, but it could also expose the community’s secret.

Verdict on The Village

The Village is a mystery drama following a small community living in a woodland area. They keep to themselves and have kept the peace with the monsters in the woods. However, an incident means that must decide whether to break the rules put in place to save one of their own.

This movie was the beginning of the divide between M. Night Shyamalan fans. While it builds up such an interesting concept it ends up giving us a twist nobody was prepared for and one that left a lot of people unhappy. I personally like the twist, however, this was an era where his name was always expecting to get twists.

The amazing cast is only the beginning of this movie. We have a host of Oscar winners and nominated stars, where even some of the smaller roles have gone on to bigger things. The world created is fantastic to see too and by the end, you can see the greater vision of the movie.

Final Thoughts – The Village is a wonderful mystery thriller, with a smart reveal.