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[etiolate]

Okay I just watched this going in with low expectations and I didn't think it sucked. That's not why I'm posting. My issue isn't the ending or the twist.

Spoiler

I just have a hard time with the two themes that seem to be trying to make a point in the movie. They ended up running into each other, but not solving each other. You have fear controlling a community, something relevant, but there is no real backlash for it. What does fear do to people? The answer in this movie is that they just live calmly up until it spouts up again. I have a hard time believing that. Just as well I have a hard time seeing this puritan community played out in a very optomistic view of what those communities were like. Where is the hard work? You never see hard work being done, just fun and play. You do at least see the secretive shame of such a community, but it never plays out. With that theme you also have the relevance to modern gated communities, white upper class societies thinking they can just hide from the ills of the world when they really can't. This is shown somewhat, but yet again everything seems too nice to feel real. Outside of the horror of the monsters, you have kids playing games, celebrations and feasts, dancing and music. There are so many factors you would think woudl create some dsiturbance other than a jealousy borne murder by the mentally handicapped. I mean, why is he chasing her in the forest? All other signs(haha) I got from that character would tell me he would try to make ammends or something instead of going bloodthirsty ballistic. So he's been killing the live animals? Why? I don't feel symapthetic to the retard. It doesnt' feel like his problem is the product of the fear and denial of the community. He just seems to be fucked up suddenly.

Otherwise, beautifuly shot. The opening scene with the man between the casket and grave is great.

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

Yeah, pretty much everyone I saw the movie with (out of like 8 or 9) hated it, except for me and my fiancee. I thought it was pretty good.. not as good as Signs or his other movies (like Signs the most, though), but it's still good and worth watching. Overall grade: 7.5/10 or 8/10 (I saw it in the theater, so I don't recall JUST how much I liked it )

 

[DeEJaYMiND]

I can't really understand how people didn’t like this movie but liked Signs. For god’s sake, the fucking stupid aliens invade a planet that is 75% covered by water AND THEY DIE IF THEY ARE IN TOUCH BY IT… how stupid can the stupid aliens/story/movie be? If you can fly trough space and visit other planets I’m guessing you are smarted than that… right?

Just my 2 Euro cents

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

I can't really understand how people didn’t like this movie but liked Signs. For god’s sake, the fucking stupid aliens invade a planet that is 75% covered by water AND THEY DIE IF THEY ARE IN TOUCH BY IT… how stupid can the stupid aliens/story/movie be? If you can fly trough space and visit other planets I’m guessing you are smarted than that… right?

Just my 2 Euro cents

Even though I love Signs, I do agree with you. If you look at it from a certain perspective, the end of Signs blew. If you look at it from a certain perspective, the end of the Village blew (what most people thought). I love Signs because I can look past that small fact that the aliens die from water and enjoy the rest of the movie. If people hate the Village and it's ending, I don't really see why they enjoy Sign's ending. But it doesn't matter.. Signs rules, and the Village is good too, end of story.

 

[Iceman]

You are not allowed to contribute to this thread. Stay out or die a cold, canadian death.

-Mike Works

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I know it's out of step with the norm, but I just don't see why people like M. Night all that much. The Sixth Sense was a decent film, and I can understand why people would like it, but I saw the ending coming five fucking miles away. To me, it was very obvious, so of course it ruined the ending for me. Bu still, I can understand why a lot of people thought it was good.

Along comes Unbreakable, and while I thought it was entertaining, it was rather slow moving, and when it finally got to the point, and to the interesting stuff, it was over. And the "twist" in that one wasn't anything Earth shattering either.

Signs was along the same lines. Had some interesting ideas, but somehow managed to not explore them fully, and left a bad taste in my mouth with the contrived ending. It's like he read War of the Worlds, placed it in a modern setting, and then had to come up with a new way to defeat the aliens.

The Villiage. Well, don't even get me started. I think enough has been said already on this one.

Like I said, I don't get why people get so excited over a new film from this guy. He's definetly got a flair for directing. He can build tension and suspense, no doubt, but for some reason, he can't seem to bring it all together, and his "suprise endings" are just wearing thin.

 

[SSGMUN10000]

I still havent seen the movie but its been sitting on my hard drive for awhile now. With the negative impressions here it just doesnt give me an urge to watch it besides I already read the spoilers and it does sound pretty dumb. So far out of the 3 Shamalyn movies Ive seen I liked 2 of them. I think Unbreakable was trash, Sixth Sense and Signs I enjoyed.

 

[brooklyngooner]

One of my problems with his films is that while I think he's got a nice eye for detail and framing a shot, it all feels too slick. Overarranged, overthought, overproduced. Every frame is way too clean. For me this distances me from the film. It's like I'm seeing everything through a pair of sunglasses.

My main problem though is that his storytelling completely relies on gimmick. By the time Signs and this film came around, I knew a massive story shift was coming and it made it difficult to get into the characters' stories. I was just waiting for that silly twist.

 

[Outcast2004]

I thought the movie rocked and I don't really get what's so wrong about the twist that happens. It makes sense. Good story.

Get over it people.

The problem was that EVERYONE saw it coming a mile away. It wasn't much of a twist if you know it's going to happen.

Face facts... he made a glorified movie about the Amish.

 

[Mike Works]

You are not allowed to contribute to this thread. Stay out or die a cold, canadian death.

-Mike Works

WHAT ARE CONTEXTUAL SARCASM i dont understand help

-Iceman

 

[mrkgoo]

What I don't get is the how a movie can be considered a piece of trash simply because the viewer guessed the ending, particularly, when said viewer is probably trying to look for something during the entire film, already pre-analysing, and do everything BUT sitting down and enjoying. The "twist" in fight Club was just as blaringly obvious, but that does not detract from the film. Any preconceived notion that there was going to be a "twist" in The Village was entirely the viewer's own fault - it's not like taglines for the movie was claiming, "This movie has an ending you'll never see coming!". It's like people consider it some kind of challenge to figure out a shyamalan movie, and by being able to figure out the ending before it comes gives them bragging rights, even if it's thinly disguised as elitist criticism.

Here's a twist for you- the ending is MEANT to be figured out! If not, why then, drop clues? I'm sure Shyamalan can make some non-sequiter ending that makes absolutely no sense, and you'll hate it becuase the ending was NOT obvious. Or when Shymalan (or if) he makes a movie with no twist, people will still cry about how they expected a twist and there was none.

 

[Mike Works]

Here's a twist for you- the ending is MEANT to be figured out!

YOU JUST BLEW MY MIND!

No seriously though, that's a terrible explanation. Granted, I'm not in the "angry that I guessed the ending" camp. I'm in the "it was a terrible letdown of an ending" one. So maybe your defense isn't applicable to my complaints.

But still, come on.

 

[mrkgoo]

Yeah, I'm not terribly good at explaining myself - I only post when I have something I feel I have to say, and more often than not it comes out all garbled. It seems fine in my head at the time, though.

I have no problem with peopldisliking the movie (not everything can be everyone's cup of tea), so it's fine if you feel let down, but I think it's a mostly invalid to totally disregard a movie simply because it was 'too easy'. If you don't like that aspect (or if it's one of the thigns that made it terrible for you), fine, but don't rag on the entire movie, based off that one thing.

Then again, not many single things can ruin a movie for me, and in the same regard, not many single elements can make me enjoy one - I prefer the package as a whole, with the certain elements having more emphasis than others.

or something - I'm rambling again.

 

[Senior Lurker]

My expectations of the movie were fucked when I read impressions in that thread back then. Almost EVERYONE said it sucked, bad ending and stuff. Raving critics were quouted etc. Spoilers were posted, people read them and thanked the ones who posted for saving them $8. I thought it must have been the worst movie on the planet.

I then went on to spread the word to anyone who even mentioned The Village in my presence:

"Have you heard? They say the village sucked balls. Crappy ending"

"Critics said they watched the movie and enjoyed it til the end, then hoped that they would be able to rewind time and save themselves"

"This is the first time I read impressions on a movie and see one unified opinion, and that was that it sucked"

"I know you usually enjoy these types of movies, but everyone in our galaxy said the ending was crap"

Then a few days before it came out here in theaters, me and a group of friends decided to watch a downloaded crappy telesync version (or whatever it was called), just to make sure and to tell everyone else how shitty it was.

So we watched...... And I found myself getting immersed in the movie. The setting was nice. All the time I was thinking "yeah so far it's nice but bring on the crap!". Then another group of friends came over and started talking and making jokes about the characters and stuff. Yet I still focused and somewhat enjoyed myself. Then I saw the ending. Really, maybe I had expected everyone turning into a tall piece of poo with Mr. Hanky jumping into the screen and yelling 'Howwwwdyy hooo The EnD OMG Joke'S On YOU' or something, but I didn't think it was bad. I felt sad for the characters, but that's about it. Then people would ask me afterwards if it's good, I would say "Well it's good but you might not like the ending".

So it was then that I learned that when it comes to this genre of movies I should steer away from GAF impressions (or maybe others too). I read some of those in the Hide and Seek thread and this time I won't fall for that (it hasn't come out here yet, and I will watch it. I dunno why but I feel an urge to watch it).

I dunno but when I watch movies I really just kick back and let scenes and events take place before my eyes, I don't usually try to think hard to predict what's going to happen. MAYBE in a who-dunnit movie but hardly any others. So you guys are too smart movie watchers for me .

 

[Mike Works]

Senior Lurker: Yeah, but that does happen with a lot of movies. Personally, for me, it was Star Wars Episode II. My best friend saw it in theatres, hated it, and periodically went on for a span of over a year how it was worse than Episode I, which I detested. So I went at least 2 years without seeing it. Then, one day when I was sick, I rented about 5 movies, Episode II being one of them. And I decided to watch it, going in expecting it to be worse than the first of the new trilogy, which, again, I hated.

And I ended up liking it. There were little aspects that I liked, such as the guitar riff-like noise the chasers made during the assassin scene, the Jango Fett fight, scenary, and such. The love acting scenes were fucking terrible,a nd some of the environments were off, but overall, I felt it was better than Episode I and ended up enjoying it, purely because I was going in with absolutely terrible expectations.

The Village doesn't have a terrible ending because it doesn't make sense or it's not believable. It's just a letdown to many people who were expecting more from the guy who brought us The Sixth Sense, Signs, and Unbreakable. It may be because it was an obvious twist ending, something the previous three movies did not have, and it may be because it was a stupid ending in their mind, for various reasons.

But anyone going into the movie with bottom of the barrel expectations should enjoy the movie, as there is a LOT of good in it, such as acting, cinematography, and score. It's just the ending overrided all of that for a lot of people, myself included.

 

[Iceman]

But anyone going into the movie with bottom of the barrel expectations should enjoy the movie, as there is a LOT of good in it, such as acting, cinematography, empty chairs and score.

You do remember! I'm glad you finally agree.