Signs Review
by John Sylva (DeWyNGaLe AT aol DOT com)August 9th, 2002
SIGNS (2002)
Reviewed by John Sylva
(C) 2002, TheMovieInsider.com
In M. Night Shyamalan's Signs, pre-destiny isn't just a lurking prospect to the close-knit, Pennsylvania-dwelling Hess family but an omnipotent force that, if legitimate, could serve as either their protection or their downfall. Shyamalan, who previously sampled the ghost genre with The Sixth Sense and the comic book one with Unbreakable, treads the similarly tricky thematic waters of predetermination in the alien extravaganza cum character study Signs, gathering inspiration from a number of other pictures, including Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. While the 31-year-old writing/directing/producing sensation's film won't quite achieve the classic status of those two highly-regarded pictures, he finds greatness on many occasions, affirming his place as the most likely director of his generation to someday fill the shoes of Spielberg as a bold filmmaker who's not afraid to take on any brand of cinema.
Isolated in a cozy, Bucks County farmhouse, the Hess family holds a strong kinship that compensates for their lack of outside interaction; but this potent bond won't be adequate medicine for warding off an alien race that has selected the family's backyard as their playpen. This isolation is perhaps Shyamalan's smartest move in Signs as it provides the viewer with a sliver, a mere glimpse of how something as extreme as an alien invasion might affect the world. The director isn't concerned with setting his film on a larger scale of mass-hysteria and SWAT-team attacks that glorify the subject at hand so much as he is with merely hinting at the terror that would be evoked by such an event, allowing his audience to better identify with his characters and, more importantly, find the extreme subject matter to be believable.
Sci-fi fans may be disappointed to discover Signs' focus lies largely in the wavering faith of central character Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) rather than in extraterrestrial mayhem, but should still find themselves hooked by the film's incredible visual sweep and a sound design that's a near certainty to bring a few good scares to anyone with a pulse. Gibson's Graham is a well-rounded character whose lack of faith is understandable given his circumstances, calling to mind Tom Cruise's role of John Anderton in Spielberg's recent Minority Report, another film that pondered the idea of predetermination. Unlike Anderton though, Graham's pre-film familial loss leads him to become detached from others rather than draw him closer to them as the character resigns his position as a local priest. His internal anguish is the axis on which Signs revolves, garnering the screen's focus even in the film's most pivotal, intense moments.
Visually, Shyamalan takes several risks, one being the curious decision of occasionally featuring head-on shots of his actors, which work hand-in-hand with the performances to accomplish an elegant impact, flooding the screen with characters' emotions that are written entirely in their facial features. Where the device could have caused an atmosphere of claustrophobia, the shots suggest the same sense of fear you see when talking to someone who has recently encountered something frightening. This works particularly well as Graham's brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) speaks to an army official about a procedure that seems to parallel that of the aliens', with soldiers' investigating an area to ensure its safety before their companions join them.
Shyamalan is known for his ability to evoke performances from children that are on par with those of the adults', and, with Signs, he directs another pair of young actors to glory. Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin, as Graham's children Morgan and Bo, both carry a substantial portion of the storyline on their shoulders, with the former's anger at his father for becoming an atheist and the latter's offbeat, unpredictable behavior coming into play at several key moments. The siblings' relationship functions as the emotional peak of the film as the older Morgan plays caring big brother to the younger Bo who repeatedly voices her fear of death, causing the viewer to invest a great deal of emotion into the outcomes of their characters.
Signs' third act, while a far cry from the twist ending of The Sixth Sense and the beguiling resolution of Unbreakable, presents a new plot development that works mostly to the film's disadvantage. Shyamalan's employment of a miasma of coincidences relating to Hindu philosophies may bring thematic closure to the characters yet reek of contrivance. Spirituality's influence is felt throughout the first two acts as well, with Gibson's giving a particularly preachy speech regarding the two types of people he believes there are: those who take solace in a higher power and those who find the concept of luck to be behind all occurrences. The director's intentions may be honorable, but, unless followers of Shyamalan's belief that everything happens for a reason, viewers may tire of the repeated, forceful display of his religion's ties to the metaphysical. Shyamalan makes movies purely for audience satisfaction-much like the aforementioned Hitchock-which will ideally lead him to soon realize the need to excise these recurring elements.
The actual interaction between extraterrestrial and man is kept to a minimum, yet the characters' dread of the creatures is very much a shared experience. In one particularly nail-biting scene, as Graham slowly approaches what may be a harbored alien, his unspeakable fear is matched if not topped by the viewer's. This is ultimately the magnetism of Signs; the characters don't know anything more than you do. Only when Shyamalan takes a risk involving the exposure of an alien in the finale does the intensity waver. Unlike Mark Pellington's The Mothman Prophecies, Signs is a film that's willing to show you the creature at large in its entirety, which may satisfy those who don't handle ambiguity in cinema well but also takes much of the mysteriousness out of the mystery.
Signs is one of the few recent Hollywood thrillers capable of finding delight in the coincidence of laughs, scares, and brains to create the total package, not only making this a sure-fire hit at the box office but ruling the director's future projects must-sees as well. That a filmmaker is capable of taking such a tired concept and compact setting and turning it into something that feels wholly fresh and original is nothing short of astonishing. Signs, flaws in tact, is a hugely entertaining popcorn thrill ride that is the noisy, chilling, audacious picture audiences often complain about Hollywood not making anymore, one that knows how to scare its audience and doesn't hold back. When a newscaster warns, "What you're about to see may disturb you," she's not kidding; but for once, I can make such a statement sans the sarcasm.
GRADE: B+
Film reviewed July 31st, 2002.
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.
