# The Village: A Storytelling Disaster



## Black Dragon (Aug 5, 2011)

Since the epic failure of this film has come up in the Switching Main Characters thread, it may be worth discussing why it sucked so hard.  If you have not seen this film (and actually want to!?), be warned that spoilers lie ahead.

I watched _The Village_ based on the great trailers.  The premise was compelling, and appeared to be a classic fantasy yarn:  a rustic village lives in fear of monsters who dwell in a forbidden forest.  There was real promise here.

I went to see it on opening weekend, and the theater was packed. Perhaps the most stinging part of the experience was that the film's first act was actually good.  I really enjoyed seeing how the villagers coped with the looming terror of the monsters, and witnessing the consequences of breaking "the rules."  It was interesting and different.

And then, almost inexplicably, we learn that the monster is just a dude in a bad costume.  I remember the moment in which this was revealed.  You could actually feel the suspense being sucked out of the theater.

From then on everything went downhill.  The magic had been killed, and there was no turning back.  And then we came to the ridiculous twist ending, which I saw coming from a mile away.  What a disappointment.

This could have been a great film.  The performances were solid, and the autumn atmospherics were evocative.  If M. Night had made the monsters real and left out the twist, it wouldn't be remembered as such a disaster today.

Your thoughts?


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## Motley (Aug 5, 2011)

I think M. Night suffers from "must have an odd twist" syndrome. All the movies I've seen of his have this rather awkward twist at the end. Signs: they get hurt by water. Unbreakable: I'm a super villain. The Village is probably the worst example of this. Just like you said, it sucks the power out of the movie.

It's a shame, really, because I like these kind of surreal films.


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## Donny Bruso (Aug 5, 2011)

I never saw the movie for one simple reason. It has M Night's name on it. I've seen a few of his movies, and didn't care for them, mainly because of his futile attempts to recapture the success of his 'odd twist' in the 6th sense. He has built his reputation mostly on these twists, and they seem to get more and more lame with each movie he makes. I was dragged to see _Signs_ by a particularly rabid fan-girl I happened to be dating; and when his twist was revealed, swore I'd never watch another one.

We're a race of aliens who are injured by water. We've evolved to the point that we can travel throughout the galaxy. So what do we do? We go invade a planet that is more than 70% water. Really?!?!?!

Someone at the big studios needs to do a better job of script vetting, because they apparently read down to "Title, by M. Night" and stamp it good to go without actually reading his crazy ideas.


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## Telcontar (Aug 5, 2011)

Donny Bruso said:


> We're a race of aliens who are injured by water. We've evolved to the point that we can travel throughout the galaxy. So what do we do? We go invade a planet that is more than 70% water.



Actually it was "We go invade a planet that is more than 70% water, _while naked._"

I enjoyed the movie, actually, but yeah. That was stupid.

Alright. SPOILER ALERT. Don't read any more of this if you actually give a damn about watching the movie.

The Village... oh, the Village. I literally deciphered the entire plot, including the "twist", about a third of the way through the movie. When we learned the final detail, the people I was watching the movie with couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before.

I think the worst failing - and this is only visible in hindsight - is that the characters in the movie don't act as if their own reality is true. Take their strange mode of talking, for instance. Why did they change that? Even if they are trying to leave the modern world behind, there's no reason to start talking like some back-village folk. Their kids wouldn't notice a difference, because they'd have no contact with anyone else. 

The explanation is, of course, that ShammyWammy was trying to obscure the eventual reveal from the people watching. Didn't work, but that's what he was trying to do. His characters are not consistent with their own story, which is a huge failing in a story. Constructing an illusion is great, but the parts of that illusion have to fit together correctly.


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## Dante Sawyer (Aug 7, 2011)

Anyone who has seen the thread Black Dragon mentioned earlier knows that I think The Village was awful. Truly awful. Moving on....

When it comes to M. Night and twists, I think Southpark actually depicted his directing style quite well (they make it seem that twists *are* the entire plot).

As for if the monsters killed the movie... I don't actually think so. I can get the monsters' purpose in the movie. Do I like it? No. But it makes enough sense that it doesn't absolutely destroy the premise of the film. Sure, I wish the monster hadn't been (*spoiler*) Scooby-Doo villains in costumes, but whatever.

No what killed the movie for me was (*spoiler*) the fact that after someone gets stabbed and needs meds if he is to survive, they don't send a fit, able-bodied villager. No, no. They send the f***ing blind chick! What sense does that possibly make?! Let's send a blind woman into an expansive forest with aids who will get scared of the "monsters" and leave her?... stupid movie.


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## Black Dragon (Aug 7, 2011)

Dante Sawyer said:


> What killed the movie for me was (*spoiler*) the fact that after someone gets stabbed and needs meds if he is to survive, they don't send a fit, able-bodied villager. No, no. They send the f***ing blind chick! What sense does that possibly make?



It may make a tiny bit of sense when you consider the twist.

The village elders were intent on protecting the illusion of living centuries in the past (why?!).  If a sighted person had been sent on this mission, they would have returned and told the other villagers about the modern civilization beyond the forest.  They knew that the blind girl was in no real danger (as the monsters were fake), and that the aids would get scared off.

However, this only raises another question.  Why on earth didn't one of the village elders, who had already seen the outside world, make the journey themselves??  Ugh.

Perhaps the major problem is that the plot feels entirely contrived for the sole purpose of serving the twist.


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## Dante Sawyer (Aug 7, 2011)

Black Dragon said:


> It may make a tiny bit of sense when you consider the twist.
> 
> The village elders were intent on protecting the illusion of living centuries in the past (why?!).  If a sighted person had been sent on this mission, they would have returned and told the other villagers about the modern civilization beyond the forest.  They knew that the blind girl was in no real danger (as the monsters were fake), and that the aids would get scared off.
> 
> ...


Fair enough (and I agree with you, why didn't the elders just go), but my question is how, with no guides, the blind woman makes it to and from the outside world.
SHE IS BLIND!


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