The Village

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » July 31, 2004, 2:03 pm

Come on. Somone had to have seen this movie. I know the premise. I want to know how it ends. I don't want to subject myself to another one of his movies. But I can't take this "the surprise ending really isn't" in the reviews, so if someone that saw this thing would be so kind to slap the freaking spoiler tag up and give a quick synopsis including the ending, it'd be appericated.

Thanks.

Etasi · Post by **Etasi** » July 31, 2004, 2:30 pm

Someone's synopsis from another forum:

[Show]: Just to get it out of the way...Yes, as we all knew, the "creatures" were really just the village elders. But here is what basically goes down in the whole movie. The first 30 minutes or so is about the love story between Lucious (I think that's how it's spelled) and some girl who's name I forgot. It's not important. She liked Lucious but he didn't like her. However that girl's sister, Ivy, a blind girl, likes Lucious as well.

There is another main character, Noah, played by Adam Brodey. He plays a retarded man who laughs at the thought of these "creatures" coming into the village and has gone into the woods several times actually. He is always playing hide and seek and other games with Ivy and they have bonded somewhat.

How at first Lucious tries to go into the woods and into town to get medicine to cure Noah. But the elders say he cannot go. Anyways, Ivy professes her love for Lucious and Lucious says he feels the same way. So then what happens? The crazy bastard Noah stabs Lucious a few times and gets locked away. Ivy now feels that she must go into the woods to get help for her love and gets permission to do so from her father, the head elder. Before she goes though, he shows her the shed with a few of the costums of the creatures. He tells her pretty much that they made this whole thing up, even the sounds coming from the woods.

Ok, so now they send Ivy off into the woods to get the medicine with 2 other guys. The 2 guys quickly turn back and shes out there by herself. She finally encounters one of the "creatures". Even though you know that the creature is just a person, it still is pretty freaky. The creature chases her for awhile and she leads him back to this hole she almost fell into before. She moves out of the way at the last second and the "creature" falls in and dies. The twist is, this creature is Noah. He found the costums under the floor boards and escaped into the woods.

So Ivy finally makes it to the end of the woods and hops over a fence basically. The whole thing is in a wildlife preserve and is happening in present day. A patrol guy finds her and helps her get the medicine and she makes is back to town. YAY!

Heres a few other things in the movie because I don't know where to add them in:
-All the elders have black boxes in their houses. They contain pictures of their life before they started the village.
-The village was started because all of the elders had a child that was killed in town. They don't really go into details of how it was created.
-It makes sense as to why they sent a blind girl into town. She couldn't see anything and realize that everything was a big lie. When she returns, life goes back to normal in the village.
-It possible that Noah knew all along that the creatures were fake. That or he was too stupid to realize that "his life was in danger". Like I said, he laughed at the creatures coming into town, the "bad color" and went into the woods even.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 31, 2004, 2:43 pm

Etasi wrote:Someone's synopsis from another forum:

[Show]
Just to get it out of the way...Yes, as we all knew, the "creatures" were really just the village elders. But here is what basically goes down in the whole movie. The first 30 minutes or so is about the love story between Lucious (I think that's how it's spelled) and some girl who's name I forgot. It's not important. She liked Lucious but he didn't like her. However that girl's sister, Ivy, a blind girl, likes Lucious as well.

There is another main character, Noah, played by Adam Brodey. He plays a retarded man who laughs at the thought of these "creatures" coming into the village and has gone into the woods several times actually. He is always playing hide and seek and other games with Ivy and they have bonded somewhat.

How at first Lucious tries to go into the woods and into town to get medicine to cure Noah. But the elders say he cannot go. Anyways, Ivy professes her love for Lucious and Lucious says he feels the same way. So then what happens? The crazy bastard Noah stabs Lucious a few times and gets locked away. Ivy now feels that she must go into the woods to get help for her love and gets permission to do so from her father, the head elder. Before she goes though, he shows her the shed with a few of the costums of the creatures. He tells her pretty much that they made this whole thing up, even the sounds coming from the woods.

Ok, so now they send Ivy off into the woods to get the medicine with 2 other guys. The 2 guys quickly turn back and shes out there by herself. She finally encounters one of the "creatures". Even though you know that the creature is just a person, it still is pretty freaky. The creature chases her for awhile and she leads him back to this hole she almost fell into before. She moves out of the way at the last second and the "creature" falls in and dies. The twist is, this creature is Noah. He found the costums under the floor boards and escaped into the woods.

So Ivy finally makes it to the end of the woods and hops over a fence basically. The whole thing is in a wildlife preserve and is happening in present day. A patrol guy finds her and helps her get the medicine and she makes is back to town. YAY!

Heres a few other things in the movie because I don't know where to add them in:
-All the elders have black boxes in their houses. They contain pictures of their life before they started the village.
-The village was started because all of the elders had a child that was killed in town. They don't really go into details of how it was created.
-It makes sense as to why they sent a blind girl into town. She couldn't see anything and realize that everything was a big lie. When she returns, life goes back to normal in the village.
-It possible that Noah knew all along that the creatures were fake. That or he was too stupid to realize that "his life was in danger". Like I said, he laughed at the creatures coming into town, the "bad color" and went into the woods even.

Would a spoiler be whited out on a theme with black background and white text? Otherwise it would be really stealthy!

Akaran_D · Post by **Akaran_D** » July 31, 2004, 2:47 pm

...
That's it?

Thanks!

Shanter · Post by **Shanter** » July 31, 2004, 7:22 pm

It was pretty good until the last ~30 minutes, then I got bored watching.

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » July 31, 2004, 10:45 pm

Okay this movie sucked, undebatably sucked

[Show]: As soon as I saw the porcupine man attackers I knew it was bullshit, and I question all of it as tripe from the concept of the uber rich ultra liberal nutties who run off to the woods and let people die of shit for years when medical help is a couple of miles off to the ultra capable blind chick who is left to run off through the woods with maybe no evil beasts but still blind as fuck, someone should have just ordered the shit delivered and been done with it. Anyone turning their backs on antibiotics is a moron when penicillin can be made with 1900 level technology.

Even the Hitchcockian showing up in reflection of the director writer producer sucked, didn't anyone learn from what Lucas did to the SW saga by trying to do everything?

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » July 31, 2004, 10:56 pm

The only one of his movies that I enjoyed was 6th Sense, and that probably because the premise was ripped off from probably the best movie never made (A Manhattan Ghost Story)...

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » August 1, 2004, 1:50 am

I just came back from this movie, i think the best way to describe it is by using one very appropriate word...pointless....absolutly fucking pointless
I dont think there is one person in this country that can actually say they enjoyed this film. The movie ended with simultanious boos and a few people flicking off the credits. This is honestly one of the most tedious, worst movies i have ever seen in my life, M Night will never earn another cent off me, I wouldnt be surprised if him putting his name on this film will ruin his future career.

I have come to the conclusion though that this is a big prank. His ass will come on TV next week, laughing his ass off about how he stole so many peoples time and money. The movie lasted about 2 hours, it seemed like four.

I would highly recommend everyone read the spoilers above so they dont have to waste two hours of there lives like we did.

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » August 1, 2004, 1:56 am

Shanter wrote:It was pretty good until the last ~30 minutes, then I got bored watching.

No it wasnt

Runcade · Post by **Runcade** » August 1, 2004, 1:57 am

I have never seen a more scathing review of a movie done by Ebert. He absolutely hated it and from the comments here I doubt I will see it.

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » August 1, 2004, 11:53 am

LOL Ebert says, "Eventually the secret of Those, etc., is revealed. To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It's a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from It Was All a Dream. It's so witless, in fact, that when we do discover the secret, we want to rewind the film so we don't know the secret anymore"

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » August 1, 2004, 3:23 pm

It's like ending Return of The King with Frodo waking up to see that it's 2004 and and he just woke up from a week long acid trip. It's taking away the magic that the movie had and it's absolutely the wrong type of twist if you want people to come out of the movie entertained.

Post by **Xouqoa** » August 2, 2004, 1:41 am

I thought it was pretty good, so obviously all you guys are on crack.

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » August 2, 2004, 2:31 am

Xouqoa wrote:I thought it was pretty good, so obviously all you guys are on crack.

No you didnt. Noone liked that movie, noone.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » August 2, 2004, 8:59 am

My lady made me go yesterday afternoon. To say I didn't want to go, would be a lie. I did want to see this movie, but just like Ebert said, I want to rewind my life, because the movie was so much more BEFORE I saw it...now it is the steaming pile of shit that is "The Village".

I think the part that did it for me is this:

The elders know what is outside the woods, and the only thing keeping them from saving lives is A FUCKEN' OATH?!?!!? What a ridiculous concept. I mean, someone who already knows the secret, goes out and gets what is needed, comes back, and no one is the wiser. What a fucken joke. Just present the "magic stones" the whole village and get walking...that will explain enough to the people. Or, one of the elders comes down with a sickness, and needs 2 days rest...it was what, half a days walk thru the forest...again, what a joke.

That movie offers nothing to anyone once you witness the last half an hour. It could have been a much better movie.

I think my favorite part would be the use of the retard. He is the comic relief thru the entire first half of the movie. You are made to find yourself liking the character of Noah, because he is "innocent" and child-like. Then, he ends up being a fantastic antagonist. That is the best part of the movie to me. The rest sucked.

Post by **Xouqoa** » August 3, 2004, 3:30 pm

Shyamalan's ability to take something completely mundane and make it seem supernatural is amazing. Yes, the movie was far fetched. Who cares? Last time I checked LoTR wasn't exactly factual either.

[Show]: The elders set up The Village because they were tired of modern day society. They wanted to attempt to live in a more simplistic time and in order to do so they knew they had to seal themselves off from the modern world. Why is it so stupid that they would allow things like sickness and accidental injury to cause loss and grief? Allowing people to go to 'the towns' on a regular basis would increasingly cause them to be discovered.

The only reason Ivy was allowed to go to try and save Lucious is because she is blind and could not relay the modernized stuff back to the people, and because her father couldn't watch her suffer by losing her love to a crime. (Which is exactly what they created the Village for in the first place, to escape crime.)

Yeah, you and I wouldn't fall for the whole 'monsters in the woods' thing, but we don't live in that type of society. I guarantee that early colonial settlers in America had plenty of tales about monsters running around in the trees at night.

I guess I just don't get why you guys hated it so much. I felt it was a compelling story with a decent, if somewhat far fetched, idea behind it.

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » August 3, 2004, 4:35 pm

Xouqoa wrote:Shyamalan's ability to take something completely mundane and make it seem supernatural is amazing. Yes, the movie was far fetched. Who cares? Last time I checked LoTR wasn't exactly factual either.

[Show]
The elders set up The Village because they were tired of modern day society. They wanted to attempt to live in a more simplistic time and in order to do so they knew they had to seal themselves off from the modern world. Why is it so stupid that they would allow things like sickness and accidental injury to cause loss and grief? Allowing people to go to 'the towns' on a regular basis would increasingly cause them to be discovered.

The only reason Ivy was allowed to go to try and save Lucious is because she is blind and could not relay the modernized stuff back to the people, and because her father couldn't watch her suffer by losing her love to a crime. (Which is exactly what they created the Village for in the first place, to escape crime.)

Yeah, you and I wouldn't fall for the whole 'monsters in the woods' thing, but we don't live in that type of society. I guarantee that early colonial settlers in America had plenty of tales about monsters running around in the trees at night.
I guess I just don't get why you guys hated it so much. I felt it was a compelling story with a decent, if somewhat far fetched, idea behind it.

It was fucking boring though, the enitre anticipation behind the movie was to see the horror, this wasnt a thriller, it wasnt a horror movie, it was a very weak movie trying to promote a very weak alternative political message found stronger in movies such as equilibrium
The acting and emotion given off by the charicters (besides noah) was very baratone and weak, just like in all of his other movies
The entire idea behind there society was very one demetional and compleatly un enforced and unrealistic...they would have to resort to incest by there next generation in order to keep it alive

As a result he built anticipation, during the movie, only ro reveal towards the end that there was no anticipation, none, so everything everyone was looking forward to for the entire first 1.5 hours of the movie was compleatly destroyed
I remember when the "secret was revealed" one dude shouted "this movies bullshit!"
A lot of people walked out and at the end THE WHOLE FUCKING THEATRE BOO'd

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » August 3, 2004, 4:39 pm

I kinda wanted to see this, but now, i think I saved myself 13 bucks.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 3, 2004, 5:22 pm

Lynks wrote:I kinda wanted to see this, but now, i think I saved myself 13 bucks.

Damn. Even with the conversion to US that's expensive.

Lynks · Post by **Lynks** » August 3, 2004, 6:12 pm

Winnow wrote:
Lynks wrote:I kinda wanted to see this, but now, i think I saved myself 13 bucks.
Damn. Even with the conversion to US that's expensive.

We only have one theatre in Sudbury, and its a SilverCity were all the prices are INSANE! If my girlfriend and I go out, the total night costs around 36.00$ (thats also buying a Pop and popcorn combo)

Post by **Xouqoa** » August 3, 2004, 8:13 pm

Xzion wrote:I remember when the "secret was revealed" one dude shouted "this movies bullshit!"
A lot of people walked out and at the end THE WHOLE FUCKING THEATRE BOO'd

Sounds like you saw it at a really classy place.

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » August 3, 2004, 8:55 pm

Xouqoa wrote:
Xzion wrote:I remember when the "secret was revealed" one dude shouted "this movies bullshit!"
A lot of people walked out and at the end THE WHOLE FUCKING THEATRE BOO'd
Sounds like you saw it at a really classy place.

Citywalk, i dont consider it to be too unclassy, but i guess there are a lot of tourist this time of year

Ransure · Post by **Ransure** » August 3, 2004, 9:59 pm

Xzion wrote:
Xouqoa wrote:
Xzion wrote:I remember when the "secret was revealed" one dude shouted "this movies bullshit!"
A lot of people walked out and at the end THE WHOLE FUCKING THEATRE BOO'd
Sounds like you saw it at a really classy place.
Citywalk, i dont consider it to be too unclassy, but i guess there are a lot of tourist this time of year

Youll find people like that in any theater....

Post by **Xouqoa** » August 3, 2004, 10:20 pm

Xzion wrote:Citywalk, i dont consider it to be too unclassy, but i guess there are a lot of tourist this time of year

I saw The Village there too since we had company in town and were at US all weekend anyway. Creepy!

We also saw I, Robot there and I was about ready to slay some people. (Many rude assholes talking through the movie, kicking my chair, etc.) I'm a pretty patient person and I was about ready to explode. Won't be seeing any more movies there probably unless it's an 11am show like The Village.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » August 4, 2004, 1:50 am

Xouqoa wrote:We also saw I, Robot there and I was about ready to slay some people. (Many rude assholes talking through the movie, kicking my chair, etc.) I'm a pretty patient person and I was about ready to explode. Won't be seeing any more movies there probably unless it's an 11am show like The Village.

I boycotted theater movie watching for a really long time because of this. Even now I refuse to go on weekends at all and it takes a lot of convincing to make me go even during the week. Between cell phones, laser pointers, talking, etc it's just too annoying and frustrating. Not to mention if you get concessions the price of your visit jumps sky high. I fail to see how it's worth it for anything but the most special effects laden films available. Only once have I actually walked up to some idiot kid and his friends and smacked him upside the head, but I've wanted to do it more times than I can count. (That one time was a totally ruined viewing of Lord of the Rings - I was extremely pissed)

People just suck in general.

miir · Post by **miir** » August 4, 2004, 3:26 pm

There were a lot of subtleties in this movie that seem to have been missed by most of the posters in this thread.

the enitre anticipation behind the movie was to see the horror, this wasnt a thriller, it wasnt a horror movie

The movies was not marketed as a horror or a thriller.
Unlike the typical 'Hollywood' movie, you were not clubbed over the head by dazzling special effects.

The acting and emotion given off by the charicters (besides noah) was very baratone and weak, just like in all of his other movies

The dialogue and vocal inflections of the elders were very telegraphed... intentionally.
When talking to the other village elders towards the end of the movie (before Ivy sets out), William Hurt's character reverts to a more modern dialect and his delivery is much more natural.
When amongst the 'non elders', all of them speak in a seemingly awkward and unnatural dialect. Their delivery is very deliberate.

As for the acting, I thought Bryce Dallas Howard and Adrian Brody were excellent.

The entire idea behind there society was very one demetional and compleatly un enforced and unrealistic...they would have to resort to incest by there next generation in order to keep it alive

How is it unrealistic?
There were, by my estimate, no less than 10 (likely closer to 15) familes in the village, with on average 2 children each.
In history, many villiages were founded by far fewer 'pilgrims'.

Do you even know the definition of incest?

Personally, I really enjoyed this movie... as did the 3 other people that I went with.
I was most impressed with Bryce Dallas Howard. I think we will see a lot more of her in the future.
The only thing I really disliked about it was the criminally small amount of screen time (and dialogue) that was given to Sigourney Weaver.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » August 4, 2004, 6:35 pm

seems interesting enough to me. the guy is certainly excellent at publicizing his moies though.

noel · Post by **noel** » August 4, 2004, 6:41 pm

Xouqoa wrote:
Xzion wrote:Citywalk, i dont consider it to be too unclassy, but i guess there are a lot of tourist this time of year
I saw The Village there too since we had company in town and were at US all weekend anyway. Creepy!

We also saw I, Robot there and I was about ready to slay some people. (Many rude assholes talking through the movie, kicking my chair, etc.) I'm a pretty patient person and I was about ready to explode. Won't be seeing any more movies there probably unless it's an 11am show like The Village.

Interestingly enough, 'City Walk' here in California is the same. I've only been to movies there twice, but each time, people were talking, walking around, pushing their babies strollers around the perimeter of the auditorium... I won't see a movie there ever again!

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » August 4, 2004, 7:51 pm

Umm Miir, for a stable bloodline set you need 100 or more individuals.

Biological fact, just as making penicillin is, any social do gooder group would not have the heart to do what those people did, it was unrealistic, and deeply flawed in terms of plot. Only really dumb people can suspend their disbelief that well, and I have noticed a trend showing that the more intelligent you are, the less you bought it.

Kluden · Post by **Kluden** » August 5, 2004, 9:35 am

Since there were say, 15 families there....where did they come from? I mean, the elders were not old enough to father/mother that many families yet...which also had families of their own...so they would be all grandparents, which, by the age of the other families, is impossible.

In other words...Since it was said that only the 6 "elders" knew the secret, since they were on the outside, WHERE DID THE OTHERS COME FROM??? In more other words...the movie has HUGE fucken holes in the plot and story...hence why it is a giant peice of shit. Verbal inflections or not...the movie was sucky, kuh-kuh, poodoo!

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » August 5, 2004, 9:51 am

Kluden wrote:Since there were say, 15 families there....where did they come from? I mean, the elders were not old enough to father/mother that many families yet...which also had families of their own...so they would be all grandparents, which, by the age of the other families, is impossible.

In other words...Since it was said that only the 6 "elders" knew the secret, since they were on the outside, WHERE DID THE OTHERS COME FROM??? In more other words...the movie has HUGE fucken holes in the plot and story...hence why it is a giant peice of shit. Verbal inflections or not...the movie was sucky, kuh-kuh, poodoo!

Almost makes as much sense as high-tech aliens that fight without weapons and are allergic to water trying to invade earth

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 6, 2004, 10:45 pm

Well in the wide angle overheard wedding feast shot (or whatever) there is over 90 people visible.. And some of the tables are cut off, so there's your 100 people right there. Happy?

Also apparently nobody caught the significance of Ivy's last name in relation to the wildlife preserve.

I didn't think it was a bad story. I don't really consider it a story with a 'twist' though since the twist wasn't all that twisty to me.

As a story it was told fairly well. I guess the majority of people these days don't like movies anymore unless they are filled with special effects, huge explosions, and/or nudity.

The main thing I don't like about about his movies is the cheesy way he tries to scare people with the loud noise after a few moments of silence. He's way too predictable.

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » August 7, 2004, 12:57 am

Umm Aslanna 100 people from 20 families is not the same genetically as 100 individuals.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 7, 2004, 4:32 am

Kylere wrote:Umm Aslanna 100 people from 20 families is not the same genetically as 100 individuals.

So now it's 5 people per family?

It's a fucking movie, people.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » August 12, 2004, 4:43 am

I had no theater problems as I did not see this in such a format...

It was not very original, much less anything but bland.

However, I did enjoy the characters, despite this cliffnotes-style pace. It was basically a new kick on what Twilight Zone and perhaps Hitchcock would have come up with given time--if they had not already.

M Night(forgot name) has done well for the most part, but there was this huge hype surrounding this film, much of which was propogated by him, of course... I was quite surprised that there were so many high-payroll hollywood actors on board for this...

All in all, it was not really that good, but some of the scenes had decent dramatic acting....enough for a rental, but don't bother seeing this one on the big screen..

2.5 out of 5 stars, and I am being generous.

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » August 15, 2004, 12:50 pm

Damn, i thought it was a horror movie

Kriista · Post by **Kriista** » August 15, 2004, 9:44 pm

i personally thought all of his other movies were shit, even 6th sense
but i was willing to give him one last shot

i thought it was ass, and if it wasnt for bryce dallas howards outstanding acting job i wouldve pulled my dick out and pissed on the screen in the theatre

i got into some discussion as to how in the fuck some shithead like m.night can get the budgets to make these movies and im still clueless

im sure if you were to talk to him, hed say his movies are about the interactions between people etc.. and the ridiculous backdrops are just that, backdrops,
but to me, its shit anyway you slice it

the plots he comes up with are sophmoric at best, the village is the sort of shit you come up with in middle school, but discard because its stupid, same with 6th sense etc..

yet somehow he draws talent(hes got phoenix sucking his dick apparantly), and saldy funding to make these awful fucking movies

thankfully, after this piece of shit, i can see him not making any more movies, and good riddens to that

Kwonryu DragonFist · Post by **Kwonryu DragonFist** » August 16, 2004, 6:59 am

Don't bet on that Kriista!

I'm sure OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS of peeps went to see teh Village with the belief that it was a horrormovie and he will surely have funds for another movie next year or so!

The next movie will seem to be a thriller/comedy by looking at the trailer but... if you go watch the movie, it will be something completely different!

Mort · Post by **Mort** » August 17, 2004, 11:45 am

Watched it lastnight.... My review:

Seen better film on teeth.

Ennia · Post by **Ennia** » August 17, 2004, 12:45 pm

This movie is like a strawberry condom, sounds nice, looks pretty, tastes so so and you throw it away after use anyway.

Might be worth 3.95 to rent it. That's IF you haven't seen the spoilers.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 17, 2004, 1:57 pm

Ennia wrote:This movie is like a strawberry condom, sounds nice, looks pretty, tastes so so and you throw it away after use anyway.

Tastes so so? Is getting a hummer while wearing a flavored condom the craze these days? Give me the scoop Ennia! Is it time to replace the Rough Riders with an Assorted fruit pack?

Markulas · Post by **Markulas** » August 17, 2004, 2:59 pm

I thought the movie was a lot better than most movies that have came out recently in the last few years. Maybe the movie didn't have enough stupid comedy or something. /shrug

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 17, 2004, 7:44 pm

Xzion wrote:Almost makes as much sense as high-tech aliens that fight without weapons and are allergic to water trying to invade earth

What movie was that from?

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 17, 2004, 7:58 pm

masteen wrote:
Xzion wrote:Almost makes as much sense as high-tech aliens that fight without weapons and are allergic to water trying to invade earth
What movie was that from?

That would be from the horrible flick, "Signs". Bad bad movie IMO.