M. Night Shyamalan film Signs is radically different from any alien film than ones taken by Independence Day and Contact. By limiting the number of special effects shots and treating the film more like a horror movie than a science fiction film, he keeps the viewers somewhat in the dark as to what is out there. He creates a claustrophobic atmosphere and keeps a high tension level this adds to the movie. Signs is the kind of film that will have you sitting on the edge of the sofa in anticipation of what is going to happen next. If you like UFO films then this may well be a film you’ll enjoy.
The film is the story of the Hess family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who wake up one morning to find a vast and complex crop circle in their backyard. Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a former minister who lost his faith when his wife Colleen (Patricia Kalember) was killed in a tragic accident. Graham raises his two little children Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin) with the help of his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), a has-been minor league baseball competitor.
Early
thoughts are elaborate hoaxes he is convinced it is Lionel Pritchard and the Wolfington brothers playing a silly prank, Graham accordingly reports it to the police. When Officer Caroline Paski (Cherry Jones) comes to investigate the crop circles she tells Graham that it is doubtful to be anyone playing a hoax and informs him that there have been a number of bizarre incidents going on in the village too – the animals are on edge and at times turning violent as if they sense a predator.
That night Graham is woken by Bo who I think quite eerily sates “There’s a monster outside my window, can I have a drink of water?” When Graham takes Bo back to bed he sees something on the barn roof. Thinking the Wolfington brothers are back Graham (Mel Gibson) gets his brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and chases the intruder around the house but all they sense is someone jumping over them from the roof. Trying to steer his family away from all the media publicity on the TV, Graham takes Merrill, Bo and Morgan into town to take their mind off the bizarre dealings at the ranch. Flashbacks then give us an idea of what happened on the fateful night when Graham’s wife Colleen (Patricia Kalember) was killed. As they are eating, they spot Ray Reddy (M. Night Shyamalan). Brief glances are exchanged as we find out that this was the man who accidentally fell asleep at the wheel of his truck and killed Colleen having her nightly walk. On returning from their trip Bo’s old baby monitor, whom Morgan has been using as a radio, starts picking up noises. A sort of crackling we then get the felling that something big is going to go down.
Taking a side from Steven Spielberg's Jaws, the M. Night Shyamalan keeps the aliens hidden from our view. We catch occasional, brief glimpses - a leg in the corn field, a hand under a door, and a flash of green on a television screen. With today's special effects being so convincing it’s interesting that the director falls back on to the technique of "less is more".
What continues is the credible story of aliens invading the world to try and harvest the humans for their own use. As they watch the news on TV, the journalists are clearly uncomfortable in their reporting the tale, and then the footage everyone wanted to see, at a child’s birthday party in Mexico. An Alien is caught on camera and the pictures are beamed around the world.
As they realise the Aliens are hostile they begin to board the house up, knowing from previous experience that they find it hard to get through doors. With the house boarded as best as possible they sit and wait. This maybe is one of my only criticisms of the film if there are such things as aliens out there they have mastered space travel, have superior strength and probably have extremely advanced weapons, yet the conventional door stumps them. Anyway truly amazingly the Aliens get into the house, so the family escape to the confines of the cellar.
The film isn’t a jump out of your skin movie it does however build on your fears and creates a feeling of believability, and tension. The moment the DVD began to play I was addicted to this film as I have said the only thing wrong with the plot is the fact they couldn’t open doors. Overall a great cast and a good watch. I really loved the film and I honestly think you will too.
Cast Mel Gibson - Rev. Graham Hess Joaquin Phoenix - Merrill Hess Rory Culkin - Morgan Hess Abigail Breslin - Bo Hess Cherry Jones Officer - Caroline Paski Patricia Kalember - Colleen Hess M. Night Shyamalan - Ray Reddy
All performances are excellent, from the youngest to the eldest. I haven't seen Gibson a lot of serious roles, and he played the distressed Graham Hess amazingly well and in addition his partnership with Phoenix plus the two children really made them look as if they are a real family.
Extras The Making of Signs Deleted Scenes Storyboard (Multi-angle Feature) Night’s First Alien Mo
The Making of Signs M. Night Shyamalan takes us through most of the film it is a good documentary that viewers will almost certainly find enjoyable and interesting. The director talks about how he went about creating some of the key scenes, plus his role in the film.
Deleted Scenes Here we are shown five deleted scenes that were not seen in cinemas.
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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
A very helpfull review, I watched the film, the only thing that bothered me, was, why would such an intellegant race of alien life form, who had travelled across the galaxy, get out their space ships and make their way across crops? surely they must of seen, the massive water jets that are in constant operation waterring crops, not just in america but all over the World, the one thing that could kill them is were they landed and wrote their signs in. lol
s_jones_2003 27.08.2004 10:47
Yet another great film op from you - you're fantastic at these, a film I've not seen and never really wanted to if I'm honest, Sarah x
vikkislater 26.08.2004 13:54
Agreed. Very well written piece, very informative and thorough review. I enjoyed this film very much and was a litle spooked by it too - it's the not knowing, the extra terrestrial life forces out there! Well done!
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...
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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...
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: 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)
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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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Signs (DVD)
![Signs [DTS] [DVD] [2002]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/76771759.jpg "Signs [DTS] [DVD] [2002]")
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