M. Knight Shamalamadingdong - The Village really that bad?

[Mark]

Village, The - - - - - Haven't seen it yet and might wait until cable.
Signs - - - - - Haven't seen it but might see it on cable.
Unbreakable - - - - - Saw it on cable and loved it.
Sixth Sense, The - - - - - Saw it in the theatre and loved it.

I wish I had seen Unbreakable in the theatre. I think his films are likely better on the big screen, though the two I've seen are no slouches on the small screen either.

 

[TracerBullet42]

the point of Signs is the Mel Gibson character's faith. That's what the film is about. It's not really about aliens any more than The Sixth Sense is about ghosts or Unbreakable's about superheroes, even though all three films use the trappings of those types of stories.

That's exactly it.

Think of his movies as elaborate analogies. Like you said, Signs wasn't about aliens, Sixth Sense wasn't about ghosts, and Unbreakable wasn't about superheroes.

Likewise, The Village isn't about

Spoiler

monsters in the woods.

There's much more there than that...

I enjoyed it and would totally recommend this movie...

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I wish I had seen Unbreakable in the theatre. I think his films are likely better on the big screen, though the two I've seen are no slouches on the small screen either.

You're absolutely right about Unbreakable -- I think the camera work in that one is the best of all the films I've seen by him (at least as I remember it) and the colors were brilliant. As for The Village, I'm kind of where you're at -- I haven't seen it, and I've read enough bad reviews (including Ebert's and he usually loves Shyamalan's stuff) that I may wait until cable. But then TracerBullet42 recommends it, and Pielorinho says enough good stuff about it that I'm intrigued.

Nick

 

[Green Knight]

Spoiler

Water to the aliens is corrosive acid, so why the heck are they coming to a planet that the surface is 75% acid to them?

That, IMO, has always seemed like a silly reason to dislike it, to me.

Spoiler

We went to the Moon, which is 100% lethal to humans

, and for what? For the hell of it,

Spoiler

and for some moon rocks

. So why is it so hard to believe that they'd come down to Earth? Especially since the places they selected as their landing sites were FAR AWAY

Spoiler

from major sources of water.

On top of which, in a radio report towards the end of the movie,

Spoiler

it's explained that they were kidnapping people. So however hostile the environment may be, they must've deemed it worth the risk in order to get whatever they needed by kidnapping all those humans. But in any event, it's still a silly complaint. People go into hostile environments ALL THE TIME (Including environments which're 100% hostile). Sometimes even for leisure (Climbing Mt. Everest, swimming with sharks, etc), so why's it so hard to believe that aliens wouldn't risk it if it was important enough?

 

[Klaus]

Plus, iirc, in Signs they mention that the sightings and signs were appearing far inland, and almost never in coastal regions.

 

[Mystery Man]

I think I'll let my wife rent the DVD that way she can't blame me.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Here's the thing about seeing his movies, and The Village in particular: if you're going to the movie to debunk your own entertainment by trying to figure out "the twist" then you're in effect meta-gaming your way out of any fun.

I went to the movie and just sat there letting myself get absorbed into the story. I didn't try to figure things out, I didn't look for all the twists, and I didn't spend my time wondering about the things that I otherwise would have. I did this because I find that this is the way to enjoy his movies--suspension of belief is required.

So, I sat there and ended up thoroughly enjoying myself. Later, when I was discussing the movie with others who had seen it, we had all kinds of fun saying that this or that was weird, or that this or that was a give-away to some aspect of the story.

But, because I didn't do that to myself while I was watching it, I had a great time.

Dave

 

[wizardneedsfood]

I went into the film looking at it from a purely entertainment standpoint. I was bored to tears, my mind hurt from brutal plot, character, and dialogue holes, and I most certainly was only entertained in a few brief bursts.

So saying that someone should just go into the film looking to be entertained isn't correct, that's how I go into any film. That's why I enjoyed movies like Troy and Van Helsing and Underworld when a bunch of people seemed to hate them.

This movie failed to entertain me on almost every level. Because of that, I personally consider it a bad movie.

 

[Welverin]

That, IMO, has always seemed like a silly reason to dislike it, to me.

Spoiler

We went to the Moon, which is 100% lethal to humans

, and for what? For the hell of it,

Spoiler

and for some moon rocks

. So why is it so hard to believe that they'd come down to Earth? Especially since the places they selected as their landing sites were FAR AWAY

Spoiler

from major sources of water.

Humans are rather vulnerable to fire, but yet we can't seem to stay away from that.

 

[Pielorinho]

Here's the thing about seeing his movies, and The Village in particular: if you're going to the movie to debunk your own entertainment by trying to figure out "the twist" then you're in effect meta-gaming your way out of any fun.

Thing is, I DIDN'T go in trying to metagame the movie. I don't do that. I'm terrible at figuring out twists in movies, normally. And on the rare occasion when I have figured things out before the movie explains it, I generaly am thrilled: in addition to entertaining me, the movie has made me feel all smart and stuff .

My reaction to this movie wasn't like that, for the reasons I gave above.

I'm glad you enjoyed it; I really wanted to enjoy it, and have enjoyed all his other movies. And I liked a lot of features of the movie. Disliking it gave me no pleasure at all.

Daniel