Cool News
Quint has seen THE VILLAGE! What did he find there'
SPOILER ALERT !!
Ahoy, squirts... Quint here. I just got home from a midnight screening of M. Night Shyamalan's THE VILLAGE. Below I avoid the big spoilers, but I may tread lightly upon some minor spoilers. Fair warning.
Look, you're gonna be hard pressed to find a bigger Shyamalan fan than me. THE SIXTH SENSE was my #1 on my Top Ten List the year it came out. It knocked me on my ass, but made sure to scare the hell out of me first. UNBREAKABLE's take on what being a superhero would be in real life is a work of wonder. Inspired, cast perfectly, paced just right and it still had a great ending. SIGNS caught a lot of flack, which I still don't understand. The human drama at the heart of the alien invasion is genuine and affecting. You get to know the family before they're put in danger, which was absolutely terrifying to me. Claustrophobic, intense and scary with an ending that really didn't depend on any sort of twist.
I'm a huge M. Night fan. I don't think there's anybody working today that understands how to translate tension to screen like he does. At the heart of every one of his movies is a group of characters or a relationship that is not only real, but interesting in and of itself. I think one of his great accomplishments is the fact that I saw THE SIXTH SENSE seven times in the theater. Partially it was because I kept taking friends and family to watch their reaction, but part of it also was Haley Joel Osment's relationship with Bruce Willis as well as his relationship with his mother or Willis' relationship to his wife. The point is, Shyamalan makes twist films, but in all of his films if you take the twist away, you're still left with interesting people and interesting relationships.
I said I'm a huge M. Night fan, but I can not be an M. Night apologist. I was pulling for THE VILLAGE to work, I really was. But it doesn't. Sure, there are a few moments of great tension (the first arrival of Those Who Are Not Talked About and the run-in with one of them in the woods, specifically) and there is one really strong relationship (the quiet love between Joaquin Phoenix and Bryce Dallas Howard, resulting in one great scene with them together on a porch). But, most tension is broken by taking away the threat so early on or giving away a plot point right in the middle of the scene and most of the Villagers aren't given much room to grow out of clichéd 1800s folken.
Usually Night is able to pull really strong performances from his actors. I cite the dinner scene near the end of SIGNS or the great subtlety from Bruce Willis in both THE SIXTH SENSE and UNBREAKABLE. However, in this movie Sigourney Weaver is really weak. Her line delivery is forced, almost said with a smile and has dramatic pauses in all the wrong places. The same can be said about most of the misplaced supporting cast with the exception of Adrien Brody, whose character is a simpleton and he has great fun with the exaggerated tones of the character.
At a point in the film you find there may be a reason for this, but I will not go further than that so I won't spoil any of the big reveals... Not that you'd have to worry about that because Shyamalan does a good job of picking the worst time to lay the big secret out. My buddy Kraken described it as if Bruce Willis finds out he's dead 45 minutes before the end of the movie and then just goes around questioning the conclusion for the rest of the movie before it peters out and you just wish he'd hurry up and accept it so you can leave the theater.
William Hurt is just bland in the film. He has some good scenes, he has some not so good scenes, but they all even out to make him a very uninteresting character. Brendan Gleeson is wasted... he has all of 8 lines in the movie and no real importance to the story. Judy Greer gives a very annoying performance as the sister of Bryce Dallas Howard that crushes on Joaquin Phoenix... Joaquin is good in the roll and gives a very well delivered performance during the before-mentioned porch scene with Howard.
I don't know what else to say other than the twist is poorly, poorly executed and the characters don't make up for it. The idea is a strong one, but it feels sloppy. Every time Shyamalan tries to create tension, he breaks it with a bad edit or an even worse choice explaining the fear away before it reaches its end. In all Shyamalan films I've seen up to this point (starting with THE SIXTH SENSE) I got caught up with the characters and wasn't looking for the ending, so each time it hit it hit me hard. Even in SIGNS I got goosebumps with "Swing away, Merrill." There is no such moment in this.
I'm disappointed in the film, I'm sad that I will not put this film next to SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE and SIGNS on my DVD shelf. I'm sad most of all because the idea is a good one. Had he spent a little more time not giving the next gag away one reel before it needed to be and concentrating on some of the loose character threads (like the maybe/maybe not love between Weaver and Hurt) then it would have been better. The film is advertised as a horror movie and it really isn't. There are 2 or 3 tense moments, but nothing that even comes close to something as simple as the kid wanting to show Osment his father's gun from THE SIXTH SENSE or Mel Gibson looking under the cabinet door with the knife in SIGNS.
I will still proudly call myself a fan of M. Night's work. I still believe his previous three films are superb examples of their genres by one of the most gifted writer/directors working today. Just like I believe George Lucas has a brilliant imagination and his work on the original STAR WARS films will always be cherished (too bad he's bound and determined to deny me the originals as I remember them), but I will not excuse away the mistakes he's made in the prequels just because I love a lot of what he's done. I can point out what he did right, all the Palpatine power manipulations, for one, just as I can point out the wrong, 3PO's god awful lines in ATTACK OF THE CLONES, for instance... "What a drag!" Jesus...
I hope M. Night isn't on the path Lucas is. I hope this is one misstep in an otherwise brilliant career. Even though THE VILLAGE doesn't work, you can still see his raw talent peaking through at times. He still has some great films left in him... Hopefully he'll listen to whatever criticism he gets on this film... Judging by the nearly full house's reaction at the end of the movie tonight, I'd bet he's gonna have a lot of it. The worst thing he can do is isolate himself and not have a Jiminy Cricket around him to help him remember between right and wrong. Lucas has done that and it's a big reason why so many fans were burned by the prequels. At least in this one, lowly seaman's opinion.
All in all... it's a very disappointing movie to a hardcore M. Night fan like me. There are characters that work, there are characters that don't. There are relationships that half-work and then some that just plain don't exist and the execution of all the big reveals I found to be sloppy and mishandled. The worse thing I can say about the movie is when all the pluses and all the minuses are tallied up this one lands just about at the mediocre mark.
Well, I better get off. Be back soon with some more Comic-Con interviews and other goodies that're in the works. 'Til then this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu!
-Quint
-
+ Expand All
-
Haven't seen this yet, but I am expecting the Monty Python ending...we'll see. Cinematography looks great though. Ebert only gave 1 star however...
-
this film looks to be as good as his previous work.
I hope he can give us another great twist ending....
http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=7454898 -
and just start making good movies. I loved Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but thought Signs was a total piece of shit. He seems to be trying really hard to set us up for a punchline at the end that never really delivers.
-
Ugh, looks like Disney will be searching for a big hit..my guess is $25 million for the weekend, capping out at around $50-60 mil. Does it still have that corny closing line [the actual quote escapes me] that was revealed several months ago? And where the friggin Jedi Council report on the Star Wars DVD changes? Now there's a talkback!
-
Jul 30, 2004 5:51:18 AM CDT
On the Tonight show Ebert refered to M night as a great upcoming
by the data
That put alot of things in perspective for me, hes fucking upcoming not established, not the next speilberg not nothing but someone with a gimmick and a schtick which is starting to fall apart.
PS: how come no one mentions stuart little or "wide awake" when they talk about m nights films? -
Well, with the group of people who I saw "Signs" with, we thought the alien invasion was complete rubbish because:
You had aliens who could cross interstellar space and evade radar but
could not open doors
and
melt in water for starters
-
Jul 30, 2004 6:04:02 AM CDT
Oops, forgot a subject line - why we thought Signs was rubbish (
by shan
Well, with the group of people who I saw "Signs" with, we thought the alien invasion was complete rubbish because:
You had aliens who could cross interstellar space and evade radar but
could not open doors
and
melt in water for starters
-
One part scared the hell out of me,....
-
Jul 30, 2004 6:21:12 AM CDT
< think one of his great accomplishments is the fact that I saw
by huxley
I'm sure he'd say the same.
-
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368447/board/thread/10462036
-
Whether you agree with his reviews or not, at least they tell simply and clearly what he liked and didn't like about the movie. Quint's reviews are a welcome relief from Harry's incomprehensible grammar, incessant babbling about irrelevant nonsense, political sputum, and revolting attempts at pornography. They're an even more welcome relief from Moriarty's steadily increasing name dropping and arrogance (why anyone would be arrogant about their knowledge of cheap entertainment is beyond me, but that's another issue).
-
Jul 30, 2004 6:51:25 PM CDT
Hey, I liked it so nay-sayers shut thy traps! (SPOILERS)
by truthseekr1488
It's not horror as such but it was certainly suspenseful. Mighta been a dressed-up Outer Limits episode, but what the hell. I for one did not figure out the big surprise twist, tho' I did imagine that just maybe the "creatures" might possibly be a put-on, but I didn't know the "why" of it all. (BTW, for those who haven't seen it, this is not the "big" twist, it's the secondary twist.) Timing/pacing? Well, I can imagine a point where Shyamalan _could_ have ended the film (at the moment the blind girl jumps over the wall maybe) but he had to answer the question s-- will the wounded man receive his medicine in time? and will the Village continue or is the gig up? If he had ended any earlier than he did these questions wouldn't have been answered. I think it's neat that at the end, everything remains more or less hush-hush as far as most of the villagers are concerned. It would've been too easy to fall for the old Star Trek trick of forcing the naive locals to face up to "reality" and become well-adjusted normals.
-
Who says the "aliens" crossed interstellar space to "get here"? Just something to think about next time you watch the flick.... ;)
-
Jul 30, 2004 11:30:05 PM CDT
Too mannered, too gimmicky, too preditable, too boring.....
by jimmy jazz
It might have worked as a Twilight Zone episode, but they tried to strrrreeeeeeetch this flimsy story to feature length. Most of the cast just stands (why was Adrien Brody cast in that role again?) around and the rest have to mouth that horrendous, strenuous dialogue. It was like a parody of a George Eliot or Dickins novel. I was expecting Pip to show up any second. I thought the best scene was the porch scene that Quint was talking about. It was like Joaquin Pheonix woke up from his sleepwalked and actually put some effort into the role. That kid of Opie's is a firecracker, though. I loved her in this. Tis pity that they couldn't have found a better movie to build around her and her character.
-
Jul 31, 2004 11:55:01 AM CDT
Quint, if you "will not put this film next to SIXTH SENSE, UNBRE
by eugene o
Just to keep things in perspective.
-
I'll start off by saying that I am NOT a fan of M Night Shayamalan. I figured out 6th Sense in the first 5 minutes - same goes for Unbreakable. Signs had some holes in logic so big you could drive a truck through them.
The point is this: if you *liked* those pretentious pieces of cinematic crap, then you will HATE The Village.
Really, the movie is a victim of it's audiences own preconceptions. The fact that it's being advertised as a thriller/horror dosn't help one iota. There's no twist, no gimmick, no great revelation. The story is carefully revealed piece by piece rather than in one giant exposition like Shayamalan's other films.
If you've read the reviews then you've heard the same thing over and over "Night spoils the twist and so you are just waiting for the movie to end."
THERE IS NO GOSH DARNED TWIST FOR HEAVENS SAKES!!! This is a movie about love, hope, and overcoming great obstacles in the name of good. Walker spells it out quite clearly in his speach to the council - The Village is place where people can hope for a better future... and you should do everything to nurture that hope.
What's this? A REAL MOVIE with REAL VALUES from M Night Shayamalan? *GASP*
By now I think it's safe to say I absolutely LOVED The Village. It's Shayamalan's best work. It pays off for those who are paying attention to details. This is not a sit-and-watch film - you have to be actively engaged and paying attention.
When you walk into a movie called Death to Smoochie expecting something akin to carebears, and instead get Reservoir Dogs - you're bound to be upset (I remember people bringing gangs of kids to that movie, it's the same story here). Well, when you walk into The Village expecting Sixth Sense - you're not going to happy.
Go into this movie expecting a drama/suspense/love story - not a supernatural thriller. It really has more in common with Anne of Green Gables than The Thing, but there's plenty to love if you know how to look at it.
SCORE: 9/10 - marked down a point for an overdone running-through-the-woods scene.
SPOILERS ENSUE - I believe going into the movie with this knowledge could drastically enhance your appreciation of the film. Knowing this, you will spend less time trying to figure out the nonexistant 'big secret', and actually watch the movie.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
There are no 'real' monsters - they are a story perpetrated by the council, who founded the village on the idea of creating a crim-free society. The Village is hidden in a modern-day forrest and disguised as a wildlife preserve - paid for by Mr. Walker who is one of the richest men in the world. The village does have one bad apple, however... some of the younger ones were raised in The Village, and grew up being told stories about the creatures in the woods. They have no reason to doubt. Noone is allowed to leave the village - not even for medicine, to protect their way of life - mostly to keep the world outside from intruding into their little world. When something bad happens, one person has to venture through the woods and into the world outside for medicine, that person has a hard time coping with the years of lies they grew up with and still partially believes in the creatures. But will they get the medicine and make it back in time?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
END SPOILER
See the Ebert & Roeper review. Roeper *got it*, Ebert didn't.
Again, I give The Village a score of 9/10.
-
You people complain about trash like Catwoman, but then get pissed off when a director tries something new.
This is a great film, quite simply because it is PISSING so many people off. Same reason why The Passion and F. 9/11 are great: they get REAL emotion out of you.
Oh, and I can't believe someone up there didn't like SIGNS because the aliens weren't detected by radar, or some such BS. That same moron probably didn't like Fight Club, cuz, like, "There's no WAY they coulda been the same person. Look at all those plot holes...!"
Completely misses the point.
Go watch The Simple Life, you fool.
-
Please, if there is something I can not forgive is real stupidity in a movie. And Signs is up there with the very best of the retards. Aliens, that can travel through space without a problem decide to invade a planet that is 2/3 water, a liquid that is lethal to them!??!?! Geez, I sure hope no one got off the ship in Florida, cause with the humidity there....
If you don't bother to think, at least for a minute about the logic behind what u put onscreen then you are not a very careful director or a very competent thinker (Spielberg should have taken 2 min. to check on an Atlas that San Jose Costa RIca, for Jurassic Park, is in the middle of a valley and NOT on the coast). The 6th Sense and Unbreakble are interesting and entertaining (but not perfect or flawless), and Signs could have ended up being someone's cup of tea due to the theme of the movie. But it ends up being a example of ridiculous choices by a director that wants to tie everything into a neat little bow with out going over the logic of it.
"We are approacing a planet, want to go down?"
"I just hope they don't have those truly complicated doorknobes, you know we can travel through space but dear lord, those doorknobes just drive us nuts!"
"Nice planet, but what is that shit that covers 2/3 of it and that is hanging in the air ALL AROUND?"
"Don't worry, it's called water but it's not like it's gonna kill us or anything"
-
I must say that I am a huge M Night fan and of course as every film geek should I own all of his DVD's BUT,
Warning, Spoiler ahead. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM!
I figured out the "suprise" ending of the village about 5 minutes into the film. M Night, the gifted story teller that he is, made one unforgivable mistake. He lied to the audience!
There is NO need for the shot of the tombstone with the date on it in the first few minutes of the film. The children of the village would not know the difference between 1890 and 2004!! M Night did not need this shot! All it did was trick the audience when we already believed that it was the 1800's. He used a trick rather than his talent for this film. Take "The Usual Suspects" for instance. Kevin Spacey, a character in the film is the one who is not telling the truth to the audience. Bryan Singer even shows you Gabriel Byrne getting killed by Keyser Soze in the first 2 minutes. Thumbs down for the Village and especially thumbs down for M Night.
P.S. As for the "Fight Club" comment, in this forum, Ed Norton's character was crazy!! We were seeing the movie through his eyes!
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 383 total posts 380 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 111 total posts 111 posts
- WTF HOLLYWOOD: SOLARBABIES -- 75 total posts 73 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 71 total posts 68 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 77 total posts 55 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 54 total posts 48 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 165 total posts 41 posts
- Herc’s Seen Tonight’s Return Of THE WALKING DEAD!! Discuss Also DOWNTON ABBEY, FEAR FACTOR, PAN AM, ONCE, SIMPSONS, DYNAMITE, LUCK, SHAMELESS, BAIT CAR, THE GRAMMYS And More!! Sunday Is Sweeps Day 11!! -- 41 total posts 41 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 500 total posts 35 posts
- Avid Comic Reader Hercules Does Battle With Tedium During Kevin Smith’s COMIC BOOK MEN! -- 28 total posts 28 posts