Since I was young I have always had a keen interest in the unsolved mysteries of life; is there really a Loch Ness Monster, how does the Bermuda Triangle work and perhaps the greatest mystery of them all,who is the father of Laura Beales baby in Eastenders (I dont think its Ian!)However I cant say I have ever been intrigued by the phenomenon of crop circles. I mean in a world where we still cant figure out how they built the Pyramids should we really care how or why crops of corn and the like are mysteriously bent into patterns? The film Signs suggests we should, so doing my best Mulder and Scully impersonation I went to investigate!
Signs which comes from the director of the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable (M. Night Shyamalan) tells the story of a farming family (who never seem to do any farming work!) who wake up one morning to discover that they are now the proud owners of crop circles!
The family is made up by Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) his former baseball playing younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix-Gladiator, The Yards)and Grahams two children, a son Morgan (Rory Culkin-You can count on me) and a daughter Bo (Abigail Breslin).
Although Graham believes that local boys playing
a prank are behind the crop circle hoohah, its the last thing that his family needs, as the family are still in a state of mourning and re-adjustment after the death of Grahams wife in a car accident. Because of this accident Graham has lost his faith in god and so has given up his job as a father (In the religious sense of the word) and Merrill has moved back home to help Graham cope with the kids.
However soon it seems that the strangeness of the crop circles was not an isolated incident. Animals begin behaving erratically, bizarre intruders have to be chased off the land, radios pick up strange and eery signals but perhaps most disturbing of all is the fact that the crop circles begin spreading throughout the world at an alarming rate!
---possible spoilers---- Everybody's imagination is stoked by these events but none more so than Morgan, who having picked up a book on crop circles from the local store becomes the resident expert on them. Morgan believes that the crop circles are the signs of an imminent alien invasion and when lights are seen hovering in the sky he is proved right and unfortunately for us humans, the aliens are hostile (Yikes!) and the battle against them begins!
---possible spoiler--- Although I have just spent ages describing the plot of the movie, I wouldn't really say this is the real plot, but rather the backdrop to the real plot, which is that of Graham regaining his faith by understanding that all things happen for a reason, even something as horrible as his wifes death. I think one of the main reasons that people who hate this film (My mum and Dad are 2 of them!) hate this film is because they think that they are going to see an Independence Day style movie and although I may have just perpetuated that myth by concentrating on the alien invasion aspect of this film, I think to go into the specifics of how Graham regains his faith would be to spoil the twist in the film. ----spoiler over----
The film is quite serious in tone but surprisingly there are a number of comic moments, most of which are provided by Joaquin Phoenix as Merrill, who became my favourite character in this film. Merrill is often treated as a third child obeying Graham while still colluding with the kids and as the alien invasion hots up, its often Merrill who gives the most funny and convincing reaction to the strange events. For example believing that the children are becoming obsessed with the television coverage of the aliens, he decides to hide the TV in the cupboard and then proceeds to spend the whole night and next day in there becoming more and more obsessed with it himself!
As in a number of recent films (Sixth Sense, The Ring) the children are unrealistically wise and often ready with a smart reply, I just wish that I was that clever when I was their age in fact I wish I was that clever now! I must be getting used to these depictions of children though, as I thought these two were quite cute and good little actors. I think this was especially the case with Rory Culkin, though I was half expecting him to do the Macaulay Culkin Home Alone scream on seeing the aliens for the first time!
Mel Gibson gives a solid performance as the father trying to keep his family together (Think The Patriot, without the neverending supply of kids that he seemed to have in that film!) One scene that I found particularly convincing was when Graham loses his rag at the dinner table, not that I have ever got anyone mad enough to really know what that looks like of course! ;)
This film is rated a 12 and I think that is the correct rating, as I didn't think it was scary but rather just filled with tension, though I did hear that some people found it very scary. There is no sex in this film as the 12 rating indicates, little swearing and little violence.
ALthough I really like this film I cant say I was to keen on the soundtrack. I read somewhere that they wanted it to sound like a mixture between Psycho and Encounters of The Third Kind and although I think they achieved this it wasn't really my cup of tea and I found it could be quite distracting.
There aren't many special effects in this film, but I thought the ones you saw were ably handled. I thought the aliens though quite gangly looked very menacing and creepy and as you only really get brief glimpses of them you dont have much time to notice much about them.
A lot of people have gone on and on about plot holes in this movie, but really I think that you only notice them if you don't like this film and you will only know that if you see it, so I think the best thing for you to do is go and see it and decide for yourself! Investigation over
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Science Fiction - Director: Hiroyuki Yamaga - Original Language: Japanese - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Ayako Kawasumi, Fujiko Takimoto
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
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: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
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 7 to 13 days...
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)
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