Signs Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)August 5th, 2002
"Signs"
Six months ago pastor Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) suffered the loss of his wife in a tragic car accident. His faith in his God is shattered and he has forsaken the cloth, a confused and grieving man. Until, one morning, his young son, Morgan (Rory Culkin), points out a mysterious event in the now-farmer's cornfield - an enormous pattern of circles and lines made in the midst of the field of corn. Graham and local police officer Caroline Paski (Cherry Jones) believe it is a mean hoax but world events soon show the patterns are much more in M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs."
Shyamalan is getting to be a one-note/one message auteur, continuing his string of paradise lost/ paradise regained themes from his two previous films, "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable." In the beginning of "Signs" we see Graham decked out in his minister's collar looking, wistfully, at a family photo portrait. Suddenly, it's obvious that it was all a dream or, maybe, a nightmare. From the start we are presented with Graham's questioned faith in God that, itself, comes into question when the mysterious crop circles first appear. Past prophesies come into play and raise the question: Will Graham regain his faith in God? With Shyamalan's past works as an indication you can make a pretty good educated guess.
Gibson gives a subdued, reactive performance of a man who has suffered a great tragedy and his spiritual beliefs are sorely tested. I'm not sure if it is because the actor is not used to Shyamalan's directing style or that Mel is in unfamiliar, minimalist acting waters, but his is the least significant performance of the little ensemble. What immediately comes to mind is "what would Bruce Willis have done with the character, Graham?" immediately followed by, "why didn't Willis get the part?" Mel doesn't break out of the two-dimensionality he gives the troubled Hess.
Fortunately, the rest of the tiny cast bellies up to the bar and give sound perfs all around. Joachim Phoenix really fleshes out his character, Merrill, Graham's brother, a young guy who gained a reputation in minor league baseball as a long ball hitter. Too bad that he is also the all time strike out king. Merrill has come to live with his brother and family after the tragic car accident that took Graham's wife away. Phoenix provides much of the film's comic relief while being the strong protector of his family and works especially well with the kids.
Rory Culkin, as intelligent pre-teen Morgan, is more up on what's going on than the adults with the young actor standing up well opposite the more seasoned adults. Tiny Abigail Breslin is both absolutely charming and positively convincing as the diminutive Bo, Graham's youngest with a direct psychic connection to the alien invaders. Her water obsession, done to absurdist lengths, pays off in the end. Cherry Jones, as Sheriff Caroline, acts the professional but is deeply sympathetic to Graham's grieving, evoking waves of strong, compassionate caring without a lot of extra histrionics. All in all, a terrific supporting cast backing a less-than-stellar lead. Shyamalan, who makes an appearance in his films, casts himself in yet another small, though this time very significant, role.
Shyamalan has a knack for building suspense by using long, often-inconsequential camera shots of, say, a doorway, while the scene's sound is used to build an image of the action in your mind. This tension-building technique is very effectively handled, such as when the family dog is barking, outside, at "something" that is menacing the house. The minds eye creates a picture that is probably far worse than what the filmmaker could do with special F/X. The helmer keeps things pretty low-tech and puts his efforts into the actual filmmaking and not prone to fix things later, especially when compared to the rest of the young Hollywood helmers.
Techs are very good with lenser and past M. Night collaborator Tak Fujimoto doing a fine multi-layered job in conveying the suspense and ominous overtones of the story. Production designer Larry Fulton does a solid effort in giving the film its look and feeling that stems back to similar alien invader films from the 50's. The gooey latex look of the ambiguous, but menacing, alien, when he finally makes an appearance, is a big disappointment. It made me wish for something more like the creature in "The Creature from the Black Lagoon." Rick Baker - where are you when we need you?
M. Night Shyamalan is a film craftsman and know what he wants from his cast and crew and, especially, himself. His now too frequent forays into the examination of spirituality, belief and faith make me want the writer/director to try a different path, next time around. One odd thing that I kept noting, during and after the film, was the lack of guns (after all, a farmer in Pennsylvania would at least have a shotgun to get rid of them there varmints, never mind marauding evil aliens) and the limited violence (again, considering the story of marauding evil aliens). It's not a problem, but it does draw my attention away from the tale.
"Signs" is a tale of one man's spirituality lost and found that uses the alien invasion as a plot device rather than a story unto itself. I was never clear on just what kind of bad things the invaders were up to. It's all very nice but darn it I wanted more aliens! I give it a B-.
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
[email protected]
[email protected]
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
