Plot
The population of a small, isolated countryside village believe that their alliance with the mysterious creatures that inhabit the forest around them is coming to an end.
Release Year: 2004
Rating: 6.5/10 (112,802 voted)
Critic's Score: 44/100
Director:
M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix
Storyline In a quiet, isolated village in olde Pennsylvania, there lies a pact between the people of the village and the creatures who reside in the surrounding woods: the townspeople do not enter the woods, and the creatures do not enter the village. The pact stays true for many years, but when Lucius Hunt seeks medical supplies from the towns beyond the wood, the pact is challenged. Animal carcasses, devoid of fur, begin to appear around the village, causing the council of elders to fear for the safety of the village, the pact, and so much more.
Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard
-
Ivy Walker
Joaquin Phoenix
-
Lucius Hunt
Adrien Brody
-
Noah Percy
William Hurt
-
Edward Walker
Sigourney Weaver
-
Alice Hunt
Brendan Gleeson
-
August Nicholson
Cherry Jones
-
Mrs. Clack
Celia Weston
-
Vivian Percy
John Christopher Jones
-
Robert Percy
Frank Collison
-
Victor
Jayne Atkinson
-
Tabitha Walker
Judy Greer
-
Kitty Walker
Fran Kranz
-
Christop Crane
Michael Pitt
-
Finton Coin
Jesse Eisenberg
-
Jamison
Opening Weekend: $50,746,142
(USA)
(1 August 2004)
(3730 Screens)
Gross: $256,697,520
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia: Joaquin Phoenix made a wooden walking stick for Bryce Dallas Howard during the 19th-century preparation the actors participated in before the film. He engraved the name of her character, Ivy, on the walking stick.
Goofs:
Continuity:
During the wedding feast, two villagers throw a carcass onto a stone slab at the edge of the village as an offering to "those we do not speak of". The carcass appears topside-down after it is thrown. However, when viewed from the other direction in the next shot, the carcass is topside-up.
Quotes:
[first lines]
August Nicholson:
Who'll pinch me to wake me up? Who will laugh at me when I fall? Whose breath will I listen for so that I may sleep? Whose hand will I hold so that I may walk?
User Review
a very underrated movie
Rating: 9/10
I like clever movies, and I like scary movies. And because of my
disposition I already spent money on two very awful movies that came
from Hollywood this year: abysmal "Godsend" and at first glance
promising but ultimately stupid and disappointing "The Forgotten".
That's why I proceeded with care to the latest Shyamalan's work: "The
village". The trailer looked promising: a desolate
turn-of-the-last-century village, sorrounded by the forest in which
some horrible creatures live. Promising, but being careful lately, I
first checked around the net...and was amazed to see a big load of
negative reviews. Roger Ebert for instance, whose opinion I usually
respect, gave it a horribly low grade! Great.
Nevertheless, I chose to see it, and I must say was quite pleasantly
surprised. Here, ladies and gentlemen, you have a very nicely shot,
atmospheric thriller with great cast, good story and a few finishing
touches of Shyamalan's cleverness (which could be simply called
brilliant when compared with the latest scripts that the Hollywood
vomits over its audience!).
Why the lousy reviews? Well, there are basically two kinds of people
that will want to see this movie: first the horror fans, who will
expect a gruesome and chilling and potentially bloody tale, and the
puzzle-movie fans, who are more or less not interested in the movie
itself, but in "solving the latest Shyamalan's puzzle" of what the
movie is all about.
The horror crowd will be disappointed. There are scares in this movie,
but way too much characterization and drama for their taste. As for the
other crowd, well people, the twist is there, but this time it's very
guessable (although Shyamalan still has some tricks up his sleeve, as
you'll see).
It seems that Shyamalan will always live in the shadow of his
masterpiece "The 6th sense". People still remember getting their socks
knocked off with its powerful ending, and keep expecting that to happen
again with every following movie. What's worse, Hollywood realized that
the twists are trendy, so lately we have lots of movies with a final
twist, most of which are stupid/cheap/illogical. People today set their
expectations too damn high, especially if they see Shyamalan's name at
the movie poster.
This movie is great. The atmosphere is great, the cast is fantastic,
and what I mostly love about it, it's clever. It's logical. And
whatever you say about it, it's CONSISTENT. Compared to the other
Hollywood crap we are getting served lately, this is a VERY good movie.
Watch this, but not as a puzzle, but as a great movie in itself.
0