It's him again, the director/writer with the name I can never pronounce! M Night Shyamalan. He’s the bloke that bought us the fantastic Sixth Sense and Unbreakable and made people realise that Bruce Willis wasn’t just an action hero and a bad actor in bad comedies. OK we know the drill, Shyamalan is like the new Hitchcock who scares the life out you in his (some people say painfully) slow burning character driven movies with a grand finales that either you got in the first 2 minutes or you simply don’t see coming. Sixth Sense was about ghosts, Unbreakable was about superheroes and now Shyamalan is tackling the myth of Crop Circles and aliens. It’s always hard to follow up a successful film such as Sixth Sense, but he managed with Unbreakable, so the press was sharpening their knives to cut deep into Shyamalan’s third film. It was the same with Tarantino (who also wrote his own scripts) when he made the excellent Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and then the critically panned Jackie Brown. Frank Darabont of Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile also had the same problem with his recent outing, The Majestic. Can M Night Shyamalan avoid the same?
Farmer Graham Hess (Gibson) lives with his 2 kids and his kid brother
(Pheonix) on a farm in Pennsylvania. It’s a troubled family; Graham Hess was a priest until his wife was killed in a motoring accident, his younger brother could have been a baseball superstar but has become a burnout and Bo, his daughter moans about the dirty water every 2 minutes. If that wasn’t bad enough, Morgan (Rory Culkin, how many Culkins are there?) discovers a Crop Circle in their backyard. The family initially dismiss it as a Hoax thinking it’s the work of local idiots but then TV and radio reports of Crop Circles appearing around the world emerge with talk of alien invasion. The crop circles are supposedly mapping co-ordinates for the aliens to invade. Not wanting to believe that there is any connection to an extra terrestrial invasion, Graham Hess decides to shut out all TV and Radio coverage of the events but the family is divided about what is happening. Are they being invaded or is just one big hoax by all the sad people of the world united to strike fear into peoples hearts? Is it the end of the world?
OK if you go to see this film thinking you’re going to find out the truth about Crop Circles then you’d be bitterly disappointed as the Crop Circles are merely a diversion for Shyamalan to get his story across. If you’re thinking of big explosions a la Independence Day, then definitely don’t bother, this is a thinking mans science fiction film. On the other hand, if you’ve seen Shyamalan’s films before and like his storytelling method and his ‘edge of your seat’ jumpiness, then this film will not disappoint. It has all the trademarks of a Shyamalan film; a small cast playing an essentially character driven movie, the slow pace that demands your attention, the fright factor (and there are plenty of those!) and of course Shyamalan himself as a cameo, although in this film, he seems to have beefed up his role! One welcome addition though, is the splashes of humour moments in the film, which were lacking in his previous films. It helps a lot in this film which would have almost been unbearable had it not been for these comedic moments. Gibson is surprisingly good and is a far better choice than Willis, given the comedic responsibilities. Seeing him trying to be angry was hilarious.
The best bits though are the moments that you know for sure will make you jump out from your seats. The subtle hints of horror and the chilling soundtrack had everyone in my cinema either gripping their armrests or screaming their heads off. This guy really does know how to scare the life out of people. What he did with ghosts in Sixth Sense, he does here with aliens making them scary without having to use expensive effects. It’s the Alien approach, where the less you see the better the scare effect. Instead of in your face gore, he goes for little peeks around the corner.
In doing sci-fi, Shyamalan has tackled some of the genres most used cliches such as peoples beliefs and disbeliefs in UFOs, and is what we see on TV and hear on Radio, real? Shyamalan cleverly tackles the questions by seeing it through the eyes of one small family and we as the audience are none the wiser in what is going on as the Hess family. It all boils down to what you want to believe is real.
Oh did I mention the grand finale? Depending how you look at it, the ending will be the make or break of whether you like or hate this film. To be honest, I originally thought it was a very weak ending and it was only after talking it over with a few mates that I finally appreciated it. For those who are looking for the big finale though, either in the sense of a big budget sci-fi eye opener or an unexpected twist like the ones in Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, then you may be disappointed. It’s by no means as bad as some of the film critics have made it out to be but its easy to see why some people would have felt short changed sitting through such an engrossing movie only to be let down by the simple emotional ending.
Signs is a film that will divide audiences and for once, you really do have to make up your own minds and ignore all reviews including this one. If you liked Sixth Sense and Unbreakable then this is for you, if you couldn’t hack the pace or the intelligence of the aforementioned films, then this wont do anything to make you like Shyamalan’s work. It's flawed and really doesnt answer any questions really about Crop Circles and aliens but it still has enough going for it to be considered as a good movie experience.
Thanks for reading. Regards, Ray
How to spot a Shyamalan Movie ============================= 1)Small cast 2)Set the movie in or near Philadelphia 3)Have 1 or more children making some ridiculous allegations (I see dead people / My dad is a superhero / Theres a monster in my closet) 4)Shyamalan playing a small cameo 5)Chilling Music 6)The Ending with flashback to clues that you may have missed throughout the film.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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
Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Willow Smith, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson, Alice Braga
Great review. I wish you would tell me what you discovered about the ending that later made you appreciate it because I am afraid I just didn't get it and found it all a bit silly.
KarenUK 20.09.2002 12:50
I don't fancy this one at all, but my daughter wants to see it.
aaron 19.09.2002 00:12
I am definately planning on seeing this. Just must get my backside in gear and go see it! Great Review!
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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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...
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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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...
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Advantages: Very absorbing, suspenseful, Good performances Disadvantages: The ending (somewhat anti-climactic and the visuals of the aliens), a bit too 'Hollywood' perhaps
IzzyS 15.01.2008 (15.01.2008)
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Review of Signs (DVD)
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]")
Sep 17th, 2002
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