Just saw The Village last night... Actually ever since the very, very first trailer I made the decision that I would NOT watch this film. Then I made a pact with Richard that when we do watch this film, we will sit near the back, in aisle seats, so if I need to leave the movie (say during a certain scene) then I could without bothering the entire theater.
He tricked me. We went to go see it at the Bridge in one of those auditoriums where the entrance is in the front, not the back, so there are really no convenient seats to leave the theater unless you want to sit in the 2nd row.
Well first of all, if you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you stop reading after this paragraph and do not read or listen to any reviews or critiques about the movie. Just go in without any expectations and you will enjoy it much better. (Even you Ai- if I can sit through the entire movie, you can too)
I think it's a shame that M. Night Shyamalan put his name all over this movie. Most people went in expecting another Sixth Sense and waited for the plot twist. Also, the trailer yields the expectation that this will be the scariest movie of the summer. Well, it is neither. To give Shyamalan credit, there were definitely eerie scenes (even the opening credits in the beginning) that gave me shudders: well this guy is a genius with building suspense through the soundtrack! Luckily for me, most of these scenes were short enough that I didn't have the urge to leave the auditorium. Also, I thought the acting was amazing, especially Adrien Brody and the girl who played Ivy.
In terms of the storyline or plot, again I don't want to give away too much, I guess you can only appreciate its entirety after you've watched the whole movie. There were small idiosyncrasies during the movie which I dismissed as "mistakes" but made sense in the end. But also, I walked out of the theater amazed at how all the little details in the story turned into a complex set of events that intricately weaved together at the end. Yes, there are a couple of plot twists, and in the end you will appreciate Shyamalan's ingenious story and it's message.
Unless of course you are like Richard who expected the scariest movie of the summer and left disappointed.
***SPOILERS (Don't read until after you've watched the movie)
Some things I noticed during the movie, that of course didn't make sense until the end:
- During the wedding where Ivy is talking to the elder, she says that her sister did not live past her 23rd birthday as she was attacked by a group of a men in an alley. I was thinking "What? There are alleys in the mid-1800's???"
- The perimeter around the village had torches and wooden pillars with yellow flags. Those flags had really smooth fabric that were immaculately seamed around the edges. I remember thinking they should have used older looking, period flags to make it more believeable. ^.^
- The creatures were wearing identical cloaks to the villagers, but in red. Come on. Creatures in cloaks?
- The scene that Mr. Shyamalan is in (why hasn't his acting improved??), he was reading the paper that said "7-year-old boy found after missing for 3 days"... did this have anything to do with the 7-year-old boy that died in the beginning of the movie? Seemed like too much of a coincidence.
- My favorite scene was when Ivy held her hand out in the doorway during the attack and at the last minute Lucius swoops in and takes her hand and they run to shelter. This scene kept replaying in my mind in my sleep. Awww so sweet :) Also again, at the wedding when there was chaos and Ivy held her hand out as she was walking.
