"The Village" Official Spoiler Thread

[Jetman]

Hey guys, lets roleplay. I'm an alien who's only true poison is water. Everyone got that? Okay, now I have this awesome idear, what we can do is use our extreme technology to invade a planet that's 70% comprised of what we are deathly alergic too, and try to enslave a race that's made up almost entirely of water. It's crazy! But I think it could work!

Now I'm expecting two or three casualties, and don't forget about sophisticated guns and technology, our species, despite reaching interstellar flight, acts and reacts to situations like locked doors with puzzlement. I don't think the humans have doors anyway. Like I said, it's a crazy idea and makes no sense whatsoever!

Yeah, I think Shamalamadingdong's movies have gone consistently downhill since Sixth Sense. Hopefully he'll get this one right.

And whoever mentioned that the "beasts" are Native Americans may be on to something.Especially when he mentioned on Stern that it was a period piece.This theory gets my vote as to what these beasts are, over the Mecha Striesand and the Bull-Men suggestions.

[Drewbacca]

I overlook the writing gaps because despite them the movie is well done, and the suspense M. Night brings to the table is unchallenged by other film makers of recent, so I respect that. Signs was a good movie in the way it presented its story, in the way it built relationships and explored the characters. But people make M. Night out to be an amazing writer... he's not. He's an amazing director.

[Despair]

Just read this on other board:

I was reading The National Post today, and came across an article on M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village". An interesting article on what looks like an interesting movie, but one thing concerned me...

Quote:
...The deal is simple: The creatures leave the country folk alone if they stay out of the woods. Things, of course, go horribly wrong. They usually do in Shyamalan's world...But don't lay the horror thing on Shyamalan, because he's already reviewed the formula and the terror equation doesn't add up. "Let's talk business for a second" says [Shyamalan]. "As soon as a movie goes from thriller to horror, you lose the audience. Thrillers get everyone. With horror you lose everyone but teenage boys."

Oh, So back to the popular belief that only stupid teens enjoy horror movies, and thats why they can be looked down upon. And thrillers are much better !!!!

Whatever Mr. Night.

[BioMechanic]

"Let's talk business for a second" says [Shyamalan]. "As soon as a movie goes from thriller to horror, you lose the audience. Thrillers get everyone. With horror you lose everyone but teenage boys."

He's absolutely right, from a business standpoint.

He didn't say that horror films are "worse" than thrillers - just more niche a product. He's going for a wider audience, so he's making the right choice.

Making an effective horror film is much much easier than making an effective thriller. With a horror film, you can throw a bunch of blood on the screen and get your target audience to squirm. With a thriller, you have to make people uneasy, which is a totally different sensation. You have to get into the psychology of people - what makes them uncomfortable and so on - and then translate that visually. It's not easy to do, and more difficult under a PG-13 rating, which Night always aims for (again, to expand his audience).

Not only is he a talented director, he's a smart businessman.

I thought the entire plot was Mel's character regaining his faith in god because he tells him (in Mysterious Ways) how to defeat the aliens.

Maybe. Or it could have all been coincidence, and Graham chose to interpret it the way he did. Either way, it doesn't change the fact that the family was severely tested due to the events.

Like Andrew pointed out, a race intelligent enough to be space-faring wouldn't be so dumb as to attack a planet without any research... how do you miss that your species is allergic to 70% of the planet?

And couldn't you just come back with waterproof suits and own anyway? Or robots. Or shoot them from space. Whatever.

Like I mentioned earlier, I thought the aliens were totally desperate. Their invasion of Earth was an all-or-nothing suicide run. They knew the planet was poison to them, but for whatever reason, they had to try. All they had left was their poison gas for weapons - everything else was useless or destroyed. Who knows? I don't think the reasons behind the invasion were important - what mattered was how the invasion affected the family. At least that's how I look at it.

I overlook the writing gaps because despite them the movie is well done, and the suspense M. Night brings to the table is unchallenged by other film makers of recent, so I respect that. Signs was a good movie in the way it presented its story, in the way it built relationships and explored the characters. But people make M. Night out to be an amazing writer... he's not. He's an amazing director.

Agreed on all points.

[Korian]

M Night is a great director but I wish he would stop making
cameos in his own Movies, there's a reason for this though
and it is quite simple.

[Drewbacca]

Apparently Spielberg does cameos in all of his movies too. Who cares? It's his movies and it's not like he's in a huge role. He probably wants to get into acting eventually.

[Korian]

It's an ego stroke, and for the types of Movies he does it
becomes glaring and can hurt the story.

[Drewbacca]

No it can't. There's no difference between him playing a cameo or some other actor doing the job. He knows what he wants. If you were bothered by him being in his own movie you are overly sensitive.

[Mzo]

Quick, don't forget to call him a nerd.

[Drewbacca]

An M.Night Shamalan nerd? No, that would be borderline homosexual stalking.