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The Village

2004

M. Night Shyamalan

Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver ...

6.0

109,357

Mystery. Drama The chilling tale of a close-knit community in Covington, Pennsylvania, that lives with the frightening knowledge that creatures reside in the woods around them and the courage of one young man who challenges the unknown creatures who reside in the surrounding woods.

	Media	Author	Review
		Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"The Village is a colossal miscalculation, a movie based on a premise that cannot support it, a premise so transparent it would be laughable were the movie not so deadly solemn (...) Rating: ★ (out of 4)"
		Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"The Village, even when its step falters, is on to something more provocative than seeing dead people. Its power, unrelated to digital monsters, comes from the tension building inside the characters. (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Desson Thomson The Washington Post	"For the most part, the film's a bewildering disappointment"
		William Thomas Empire	"The denouement will infuriate and enthral, but Shyamalan's latest is made with elegance (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"
		A. O. Scott The New York Times	"The film's ridiculousness would not be so irksome if Mr. Shyamalan did not take his sleight of hand so seriously (...) He does, at least, care about the way his movies look"
		Wesley Morris Boston Globe	"A Grimm brothers fairy tale taken to the Outer Limits"
		Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Absurd and badly plotted (...) The twist is telegraphed with a feeble explanation which dulls the impact"
		Scott Tobias AV Club	"Considered on its own merits, its skillful fusion of Grimm fairy-tale horror and pointed social parable find Shyamalan in peak form."
		Rex Reed The New York Observer	"Another mediocre lunacy from the overrated M. Night Shyamalan"
		Ben Sachs Chicago Reader	"Eight years on, 'The Village' now looks to me like Shyamalan's best film, in part because its twist is so essential to its overall meaning"
		Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune	"Shyamalan, as usual functioning as writer, director and producer, plays on our expectations like a virtuoso while subverting them"
		Time Out	"Shyamalan toys with political ideas, but buries them under an illogical, rather silly story (...) The only real draw is newcomer Bryce Dallas Howard who puts in a great performance"

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