Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Drama, Suspense, Love, Love Triangle, Supernatural
Tagline: Run. The truce is ending.
Plot: Despite the advice of his elders, a curious and determined Lucius Hunt (JOAQUIN PHOENIX) has a burning desire to step beyond the boundaries of the town into the unknown. Town leader, Edward Walker (WILLIAM HURT) warns Lucius of the danger amongst the town’s outskirts, and Lucius’ mother, Alice Hunt (SIGOURNEY WEAVER) advises him to stay at home and spare himself of the greed and desires that exist in the outside world. Lucius’ strength is matched only by Ivy Walker (BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD), a beautiful and mesmerizing young blind woman with an unusual wisdom beyond her years. Her fearless nature and gift-like perception are beyond anything Lucius has ever known.Both Lucius and the mischievous Noah Percy (ADRIEN BRODY) admire Ivy passionately, though her heart only has room for one of them. Her devotion eventually leads her down a forbidden path where terrifying truths are revealed. The ominous presence of the unknown boils over into chaos for the town, with one’s bravery being the only thing that can save them. The truce between “The Village” and the creatures is
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 The Village is writer/director M. Night Shyamalan's attempt to combine the Brothers Grimm with The Twilight Zone.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
The real mystery at the heart of M. Night Shyamalan's latest: How does he persuade actors like Sigourney Weaver and Adrien Brody to act in his supremely lame movies?--Stephanie Zacharek (Salon)
"The Village" is a colossal miscalculation, a movie based on a premise that cannot support it, a premise so transparent it would be laughable were the movie not so deadly solemn. It's a flimsy excuse for a plot, with characters who move below the one-dimensional and enter Flatland.  --Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
To call it underwhelming would be an overstatement. This is a lack of effort. It offers nothing to think about other than how desperate the director was to continue a streak of surprise endings. D+--Craig Younkin (Lee's Movie Info)
M. Night Shyamalan delivers his usual excellence in carefully crafted directing, but for those expecting non-stop monsters or dead people, you might be disappointed. B+--Jason Kaplan (Lee's Movie Info)
Though it’s a different film than what was expected, I have a lot of respect for those who dare to be different, and as a result The Village is one of my favorite films of this year. B+--Lee Tistaert (Lee's Movie Info)
As a failure, The Village is certainly interesting, but a failure it stubbornly remains. C--Rob Vaux (Flipsidemovies.com)
Shyamalan's latest “style over substance” production relies on another of his trademark plot twists, but based on such a tissue paper premise that Touchstone Pictures is rushing to recoup as much box office as possible the first couple of weekends beforenegative word of mouth overwhelms the film.  --John Nesbit (CultureDose.net)
The Village does just miss the mark of being a good film, primarily due to it being more an exercise in trickery than it is in thematic elements.  --Vince Leo (Qwipster.net)
It's a love-it-or-hate-it sort of movie, depending primarily on how certain third act revelations hit you. But even detractors must admit that Shyamalan does a fantastic job of establishing the mood of this small town.  --David Nusair (Reel Film Reviews)
Shyamalan’s got a cast and story that are nothing short of wonderful.  --Lori Kapes (MovieWeb)
The Village, for all its various matters of subject, is as meandering as a woodland stream, though every bit as effective in direction, mood, performance, scares and heart as any cinephile or Shyamalan fan might dare to hope. --Christopher Monfette (MovieWeb)
The Village is a movie about loyalty, tradition, fear and love. This is one of the best movies of the year right now. M. Night Shyamalan, you win, yet again!  --Brian Gallagher (MovieWeb)
In its own bizarre way, this is a masterpiece. And, as long as the product isn’t offensive, a way is a way, and this one works for me. --Danny Baldwin (BucketReviews.com)
like a Twilight Zone episode without the stinging irony, much less the streamlined delivery that magnifies the effect.  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)
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| The Village asks more questions than it answers, cloaks itself in cinematic tricks and proves once again that writer-director M Night Shyamalan has a colossal nerve. It is also the most exciting, engrossing and thought-provoking mainstream movie of 2004. --Nev Pierce (BBC Films)
As with his other films, "The Village" has deeper themes than its fun surface story would suggest, this time involving pain and loss. But they are not realistically realized, nor even examined beyond a few cursory lines of dialogue. Shyamalan has followed his own template, but neglected to fill in the most important parts. The movie is a disappointment. C+--Eric D. Snider (EricDSnider.com)
The Village is the first Shyamalan thriller that eliminates the sense of fear movie-goers would take home with them when it reveals the creatures weren’t real. This was the key that made Shymalan thrillers classics to so many people. Whether it is political allegory or just pure coincidence, anyway you slice it The Village is a drawn out disappointment. C+--Joseph Kastner (MovieJustice)
Shyamalan is a master of mood, tone and style, like Hitchcock, and keeps the scary bits off screen, which in this desensitized world, makes them all the more frightening. 80/100--Jamie Gillies (Apollo Guide)
"The Village" is Shyamalan's weakest story, and its ending - whether or not you're surprised by it - is a genuine clinker. ... Though the movie has a sleek, atmospheric look, it plays like an extended "Twilight Zone" episode...  --Jack Mathews (New York Daily News)
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