Signs (2002)

Don't Believe the Hype

As Good As It Gets

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

What you will find in this film:-Ridiculous plot elements: such as the water thing, and the totally unnecessary back-story explanation of Joaquin Phoenix character.-Risible dialogue: lil' Culkin giving a speech to her 5-year-old sister about the importance of documenting the invasion so their sons will know their parents were there. Also Mel Gibson cursing (" Ahh! I'm insane with anger!")-Poor acting: there would have been more emotionality and gesticulation in carboard cut-outs of the cast. Just terrible. -Cheap CGI. Not even the characters in the film were scared of the alien.-Coincidental Broadcast cliché: Turning the news on precisely at the right moment EVERY SINGLE TIME. Someone please stop Shyamalan from making movies.

When humans fear darkness and death, the real fear is the unknown. Whatever hides in the shadows is very often scarier than the beast itself. Shyamalan keeps the danger from us. We feel it, but we don't see it. And that is always scarier than constant gore and jump scares.I think Gibson and Phoenix did very well in this movie, their response to this atmosphere is very believable, the execution brilliant. The little girl does well too, the boy is okay.The score may be what impressed me most, it creates dread like nothing else in the movie. Along with the cinematography and the plot, it creates a constant unsettling vibe continuing throughout the entire movie.This is, in short, a brilliant thriller. 9/10.

You think crop circles are a hoax? M. Night Shyamalan's film tries to have you thinking differently. And not just about crop circles.Rev. Graham Hess, is a widower living in a farmhouse along with his two children, Morgan and Bo. Graham's younger brother, Merrill, has also joined the household. Wait. Did I say REVEREND Graham Hess? Make that FORMER reverend since, as a result of his struggle to make sense of his wife's death, Mr. Hess has lost his faith.His wife's dying words were "Tell Merrill to swing away..." The randomness of those words sends Graham into a nihilistic tailspin, causing him to say things like, "I am not wasting one more minute of my life on prayer" and "there is no One looking out for us...we are all alone."But it is the seemingly random words and happenstances of the film that congeal in the end to produce an epiphany of sorts. In this regard, Hess's epiphany is not too different from the one experienced by Jules in Tarentino's PULP FICTION. If PULP FICTION had a big idea, it was that even the least worthy can catch a break from the Man Upstairs. Similarly, Shyamalan's big idea here is that even when aliens with bad intent show up on earth, God still cares, God is still in charge. It's just not so obvious. Until it is.In this way, "Signs" may just be a 105-minute, suspense-filled meditation on the Scripture that goes, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God..." (Romans 8:28). And maybe even for the good of those who don't.This film has its definite strengths. There are some genuinely eerie moments midst the cornstalks (naturally). The "Field of Dreams"-like setting and cinematography are easy on the eyes, effectively contrasting with the shadowy alien invasion. As for the cast, Abigail Breslin (as Bo), barely six years old and in her first film, does a great job being unself-consciously precocious. And there's barely a hint of Mad Max in Mel Gibson's Graham Hess. Furthermore, I tend to like anything Joaquin Phoenix does, including the weird Hip-Hop-ZZ-Top thing he did a few years ago. The weak link is the older brother (played by the younger brother of the kid who played the kid in the Home Alone films).Cinematically speaking, it is clear that Shyamalan has learned much from his movie-making idol, Alfred Hitchcock. On the other hand, unlike Hitchcock, Shyamalan is not content with a fleeting cameo. Instead, he cast himself in the role of a major minor character and the low quality of this performance is distracting. So, yeah, another weak link.Yet another complaint: the aliens come off as pretty wimpy. How is it that a humanoid species can figure out how to travel from one solar system to another but can't figure out a defense against one of the most basic of elements? C'mon now. Really, the best thing about this film is the theological question: Does a caring God exist or not? Shyamalan keeps this theological tension taut throughout the film and resolves it in a manner that you probably did not see coming.UPSHOT: despite its flaws, "Signs" manages to be a worthy film that can promote an even more worthy conversation about fate and faith, God and grace.

Please Note: this is not like my usual reviews and is more of a discussion on this film and key narrative points. As a result, I will be discussing major spoilers, as this is targeted towards people who have already viewed the film.This Movies marks the beginning of the downward spiral of M Night Shyamalan's directorial career. While the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are cinematic greats, Signs is a mess of a film, with a plot twist so ridiculous I didn't know what to say.For a start, you know you have a poor plot twist when your fans have to create their own theories in order to make your film seem competent. The fan theory goes that the Aliens are not aliens, but in face daemons from hell. This would explain why they don't use fancy technology, are weak to water (as it is a drastic change from their normal hot environment), and matches to religious tone the movie has built up, up until the point of the first sight of the aliens. However… this is clearly not what the movie had intended. If this was the truth, then that would have been the plot twist to this film (as to be expected of all Shyamalan's works), but that is not what is stated, or ever implied by either the narrative or the characters.Instead what we are given is an alien invasion film where the aliens are completely unprepared for what is actually on the earth. One online critic who I am a great admirer off used the found footage scene to show off how Shyamalan is a good visual story teller as you can see the alien is scared and hiding before it walks away. However, if this invasion plan of theirs was actually well thought out, it would have no need to be fearful of us. You would think, if the plan was to invade Earth, they would have brought some form of weaponry or some way to protect themselves from the water which covers most of the surface of our blue planet.Another theory is that the reason the aliens are so unprepared for us humans is that their intension was to come in piece, and we just attacked without stopping to consider this, therefore presenting us as the villains without us realising it. However, again if this were the case, a competent film maker would make this more explicit and clearer in this message. To see a similar idea done well, please watch the original ending of I Am Legend (2007). All these fan theories do make the film seem very well made, but in reality, that's all they are; theories.Signs is not an awful film however as it does feature a solid, creepy atmosphere, with interesting camera work (another staple of Shyamalan's features), and strong performances from its leads – well... the adult actors at least. With this film however I cannot tell whether Shyamalan directed these kids to behave how they do, or whether they are just bad little actors. The script has them speak in ways that no child (in a realistic world) ever would, and every line is monotone and expressionless: a weak method of creating a creepy tone (by making the children needlessly creepy).Shyamalan has recently made a couple of decent movies. His last two features I have found effectively creepy and the moments of comedy in both has worked very effectively. The dialogue is the same as in all his films as it's so unnaturally written, it's almost hard to believe anybody would say the lines he right in real life. Luckily he has the money to afford great actors who can pull off these lines well enough for it to be not too distracting… most of the time