"Only human beings can move me to despair, but only human beings can remove me from despair&quo...
"Only human beings can move me to despair, but only human beings can remove me from despair" - Elie Wiesel
Member since:27.05.2002
Reviews:45
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When farmer Graham Hess wakes up it seems like a usual morning, but as he’s brushing his teeth he hears a scream and rushes to his children’s bedroom. The bedroom is empty. In the next building Graham’s brother falls out of bed when he is woken by the scream. Both rush outside where they can hear shouting coming from the corn field. As they rush into the corn field calling to the children, they find Bo and then Graham finds Morgan standing and staring at something. Morgan tells his father that he thinks God did it and Grahams asks what God did. Morgan turns his father’s face towards the huge crop circles.
Graham and his brother Merrill are quick to dismiss this as a hoax, but the children are not so sure. As strange things start happening on the farm and all over the world Graham begins to realise that maybe aliens do exist and they are hear on Earth. The question that now remains is are they Friendly or hostile?
Besides the main story there is a second underlying thread which goes through this film, about events that happened six months previously. Graham was previously a priest, but had become disillusioned when his wife
was hit and killed by a car. Throughout the film Graham has flash backs to that fateful night and slowly the full story is revealed to the audience.
Graham is a man who is obviously still trying to come to terms with the loss of his wife and ultimately his faith. He is annoyed by the fact that people still call him Father and still try to turn to him for spiritual guidance, or should I say confessions (another rather amusing scene)! He is a good and normally strong man who has been broken by a tragic event. His younger brother came to live with him after the death of his wife. Merrill comes across as a slightly more mischievous character who has no qualms about swearing and speaking his mind. He seems to look up to his brother and finds it hard to see the broken man he has become.
On the whole the children are strangely calm and sensible throughout the film. Morgan seems to be a very clever and grown up boy for his age. He is a great protector of his little sister Bo. Bo in turn has an odd obsession with drinking water which, would you believe it, turns out to be quite useful. She also acts a bit odd in other ways. If you’ve seen the trailer you’ll know the line: “Daddy, there’s a monster outside my room. Can I have a glass of water?”. To me this isn’t the reaction of a normal child, but then Bo is obviously a bit different to normal children.
This is another great film by M. Night Shyamalan. The Sixth Sense was an all out hit for him although Unbreakable got mixed reactions. Personally I enjoyed them both. If you have seen The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable you will probably be expecting one of those famous twists to appear at the end of Signs as well. However, Signs does not so much finish with a twist as a coming together of all the pieces of a puzzle which were given to you throughout the movie. I felt this was a good touch even if it was possibly a little cliched.
I was expecting a pretty scary film when I saw the trailers for this film, but although it wasn’t as scary as expected it was a very enjoyable film. It gave me quite a few belly laughs, but it also had it’s sad moments. In every film like this you always seem to have to have a death or two. Unfortunately with this one it turned out to be the dogs and something about animal deaths tugs at my heart strings. The film was a 12A certificate, which would probably explain why the ‘scare’ was toned down and the laughs were increased. At one point we see the children wearing tinfoil hats, which Morgan explains are for preventing aliens from reading their minds. Then after Merrill’s been watching to much TV he takes to wearing one too; which makes quite an amusing sight when Graham returns home.
The only thing that I felt let this film down was the coming together scene at the end. Whilst it was nicely brought together in a conclusion there was a part which just didn’t sit right for me. I don’t want to reveal too much about it in case you have yet to see the film, but it has to do with water and the fact that our whole planet and atmosphere contains copious amounts of it.
Once again Shyamalan has brought together a well known cast and not only did he direct this film he also wrote the screenplay for it and helped produce it. Of course he isn’t the only multi talented person involved in the making of this film. You may well be aware that Mel Gibson has won Academy Awards for his acting and an Oscar for directing.
As usual, Mel Gibson pulled off a great performance although in all honesty if I had known the story before hand I would never have pictured Mel Gibson as the person to play Graham Hess. Maybe it’s just because I’m too used to him playing the hero/tough guy roles as in the Lethal Weapons, Braveheart and The Patriot. So I guess this is a different kind of role for him.
Joaquin Phoenix (one wonders if he is related to the late River) played Merrill Hess and you may well recognise him from the hit Gladiator. Merrill is a completely different role to the one he played in Gladiator, but he fits it very well. Rory Culkin and newcomer Abigail Breslin also did well in their roles as Morgan and Bo respectively and Patricia Kalember (Jacob’s Ladder) made a very brief appearance as Colleen Hess.
**Cast**
Mel Gibson - Graham Hess Joaquin Phoenix - Merrill Hess Rory Culkin - Morgan Hess Abigail Breslin - Bo Hess Cherry Jones - Officer Caroline Paski Patricia Kalember - Colleen Hess
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Excellent review. For me the film was ruined by the rather silly ending which supposedly brings everything together but to me blew it apart.
RayMan_UK 12.10.2002 23:10
This is the second opinion of this film read by me. Both give me a very good insight as to what to expect. I am definitely going to see this when I am able to :-) Thanks :-) Ray.
psrose78 28.09.2002 12:54
i think i would rather let a dog get zapped by aliens then myself! (i've probably made some enemies by saying that) anyway, i think i will watch this on video when it comes out. cheers, Paul
Director-writer M Night Shyamalan brings his distinctive, oblique approach to aliens ... more
inSignsafter tackling ghosts (The Sixth Sense) and superheroes (Unbreakable). With Mel Gibson replacing Bruce Willis as the traditional Shyamalan hero--a family man tr...
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Director-writer M Night Shyamalan brings his distinctive, oblique approach to aliens ... more
inSignsafter tackling ghosts (The Sixth Sense) and superheroes (Unbreakable). With Mel Gibson replacing Bruce Willis as the traditional Shyamalan hero--a family man tr...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
From M. Night Shyamalan, the writer/director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, comes the ... more
story of the Hess family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who wake up one morning to find a 500-foot crop circle in their backyard. Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and hi...
From M. Night Shyamalan the gifted writer/director of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable ... more
comes the story of the Hess family in Bucks County Pennsylvania who wake up one morning to find a 500 foot crop circle in their backyard. Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) a...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Makes you think...and keep on thinking for ages afterwards, it has Mr Gibson in it, superb directing Disadvantages: A bit scary to be rated 12 - and all that thinking made my brain hurt
Collingwood21 12.10.2002 (12.10.2002)
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Review of Signs (DVD)
![Signs [DTS] [DVD] [2002]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/76771759.jpg "Signs [DTS] [DVD] [2002]")
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