Signs
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Movie Reviews of Signs
Movie Review: Epic Alien Film Set in Bucks County, Pa.
Summary: 5 Stars
Because of its well-developed characterization of Rev. Hess and the slow crescendo of tensions to a grand finale,and its message of faith regained, I liked this film. It is also at least as good as Shyamalan's next film "The Village" and probably better. I also view both films as extremely silly at some levels, though entertaining, capitalizing on man's primordial fear of the unknown, very much like "The Twilight Zone" tv series did. Hess' and brother Merrill's are the only fully developed characters in "Signs",though the film is actually in most ways child-centered. Both films show antipathy to the modern world, particularly "The Village" which takes place in an anachronistic commune, which like other historic or present communes has deliberately set itself apart from society's mainstream to achieve a goal-- to protect its members, particularly its children, from the evils of the modern world. However wise the goal, the tactics, which include brainwashing and a concentration camp mentality, are suspect, so the story has elements of black humour. I consider it camp or corny because of its stilted, formalized quasi-Amish 1890's dialogue and several deadweight scenes with the elders. The use of high priced talent like Hurt and Weaver in such vapid dialogue could justifiably be considered wickedly wasteful.
Both films make noble efforts at historicism. The choice of Bucks County, Pa. as the setting for "Signs"is rather inspired and adds to the film's beauty and uniqueness. Details such as an antique bedframe, wallpaper, a fireplace,stained glass,cut vegetables, photographs and paintings,a barbecue area,windchimes, Pennsylvania Dutch woodcuts and gingerbread trim, a basement pantry stocked with canned goods, are notable. The pace of both these films is measured and rather slow,out there among the cornfields or in the village, somewhat like a Stephen King novel set in Maine. We don't see much of the aliens--a leg here, a hand there--until the final scene, a restrained dramatic strategy that seems to work very well, like a rare vision of the Loch Ness monster. The alien is also shown several times by reflections.
"Signs" does not bludgeon you with its pseudo-science, like the film "Contact" does. It quietly states its theories in the appropriate time and place. The rich characterization of the Father/Reverend Hess is done through flashbacks: like the elders in "The Village" who have all experienced tragedy, this humble man has lost his wife in a horrific traffic accident, an event which has caused him to lose his faith. The question that confronts the Reverend is whether an act of providence can be considered a miracle (a sign) or just pure blind luck. Is there such a thing as coincidence? The Reverend, during the bulk of the film, no longer wants to be called Father. This film's Christianity and exposition of faith is one of its most compelling qualities.
His brother Merrill plays effective counterpoint as an ex-baseball player-- a fact of considerable importance in the film's harrowing last scenes. The aliens which are given lots of airtime worldwide on tv,
start out by clearing areas in cornfields as navigational aids,which Merrill at first dismisses to the Reverend's two children as a prank by "nerds who can't find girlfriends." The Reverend is equally skeptical initially. These signs show up all over the world--in India particularly.
Despite some bad reviews, some wooden acting and deadly if unintentionally funny dialogue, I thought the cinematography of "The Village" made up for some of its deficiencies. I liked Adrien Brody's performance as the village retard, and Joachin Phoenix is not too bad as the virile, brave Lucius Hunt who courts Ivy Walker after rejecting her sister. I thought Shyamalan does a very effective job of conveying a sense of subtle terror throughout, especially in the very scary woods scenes towards the end, the fairytale-like use of the "good" and "bad" colors, as well as in the use of numerous historic details and walk-on characters. Some scenes work well (as when elder Edward Walker describes to the children the truce between the village and "Those We Don't Speak Of"), others less well. I liked the "dare" scenes on the edge of the forest, and I liked the scenes in the lookout tower.The idea of going to get medicines from the town is a workable one, as is the idea of using blind Ivy to fetch the medicines because she is more capable than others. But the movie suffers from a deadly lack of pacing. I think you have to balance the positive with the negative and overall I think the film is worth watching but unfortunately not quite as good as "Signs."
Movie Review: Great movie about faith
Summary: 5 Stars
If you expect sci-fi or if you expect horror from this movie, you may be quite disappointed. However, if you don't mind watching a movie that is an analogy about the frailties of one man and his struggles with his faith with God, then sit down and put this in: I don't think you will be disappointed.To me, M. Night's movies have been becoming progressively BETTER. His movies have gotten deeper and more cerebral. Sixth Sense is good, but you basically just need to watch that movie twice (once to get surprised by the twist ending and a second time to figure out why you were fooled in the first place). UNBREAKABLE had a better plot and a better ending (the ending set up two more sequels, so for those that didn't like the ending, you may not have realized that) and is great on repeat viewings. SIGNS blows the other two out of the water and is a deep movie that requires more than just a surface glance; this movie deserves to be probed, dissected and examined from beginning to end.
The movie is an analogy, most importantly. The alien invasion is just a background thing and is more than likely a dream. There is quite a bit in the movie to suggest that it is just a dream, that it's more than what it appears.
**The first shot: the window glass is distorted and then you see Graham's family in a picture. This could represent how Graham's views of his world and his family have become distorted. It's also here that Graham wakes up, the first of many times he wakes up in the movie.
**The first sign: Graham is looking for his children in a cornfield and gets lost, representative of his relationship with God and how he is lost and his Father is searching for him, and also representative of the signs God gives us that He's there and cares.
**Graham cannot hear his children in the field later on, pointing out his relationship with God. While he is derailed from his faith looking for his personal signs that God is there, his communication with God is not what it should be. He has not forgiven God for losing his wife, and the Bible says that those who have unforgiveness in their heart are not heard by God.
**The first time we see the aliens in the movie (on the TV, though they were present earlier on, as evidenced by the dogs' responses to them) Morgan needs to use his inhaler, and only uses his inhaler when he sees the aliens, a point that I feel is important later in the movie.
**The aliens could be an analogy of demons in the movie, personal demons that Graham has to fight to regain his faith in God. He is afraid of his demons, and refuses to confront them, and runs from them when confronted with them in the movie, and in the end says he is not ready when the demon tries to get in the basement. He's not ready to face his demons because he has not worked out his struggle with God at this point to see the signs in his life he is looking for.
**The instances where the invasion is compared to the War of the Worlds and Bo keeps asking if this is all in her dream and Graham keeps waking up as if trying to awake himself from a dream in the entire movie suggests this movie is a dream. There are other elements, but I will leave that for the viewer to decide.
**We never see how the mid east nations fought off the invasion. It is ASSUMED to be water, but we do not know. It's possible that the water in the house was Holy Water, blessed by Bo, as she was pure in spirit and like an angel (I know this is stretching it, but go with me). Holy Water is seen as having an adverse affect on demons in other movies and media. I think what really got rid of the demons was prayer, and it was Merrill's prayer in the basement that saved the family in Graham's time of darkest struggle.
**God saves Morgan from dying, and Morgan is able to breathe normally once again. At the same time, God touches Graham and he can see God's signs clearly for the first time in the movie, and is symbolically touched with the breath of God. The final pan shot goes through the same window we saw at the beginning, only this time the distorted glass is gone, and Graham's vision or perception of reality is no longer distorted, and he's able to return to work.
If you are expecting INDEPENDENCE DAY or ET from this movie, then you best go and buy or rent those, and leave this one on the shelf. If you are expecting a movie that makes you THINK and PROVOKES you and requires several viewings to really appreciate it, then by all means pick this movie up. It's truly a great movie about one man, his struggle with God, and his fight to find the signs in his life that God is there, and his reunion with the God who he loved all along. It's a beautiful movie.
Movie Review: Astonishing, scary, heartwarming, and hilarious
Summary: 5 Stars
I could go on and on about this movie the way I have been for the last nine days since I've seen it (three times already, and counting...). M. Night Shyamalan, who blew me away with "The Sixth Sense" back in 1999, and blindsided me with "Unbreakable" in 2001, now completely knocks my socks off and leaves me breathless with "Signs". This is, unquestionably (in my opinion) his strongest, most refined work. The film is everything that films should be; all the reasons we love going to the movies are encased in this one, masterful two hour package. Cunningly simplistic yet effective in style, Shyamalan abandons almost all sense of the style that has permeated his first two films--the long, seemingly endless takes that shift the camera back and forth between actors instead of cutting, are just one example--and approaches this material with a fresh eye, yet the same crew.The plot of the film is simple, as it should be. Plots about the possible existence of extra-terrestrials can be bogged down by too much detail. In this sense, it's much better to give us real characters. If they seem real to us, it makes the danger on screen feel that much more imminent. When the hand reaches for them, it reaches for us, too, and grabs our heart by going for the throat. We have our real characters here in the carefully calculated performances of Mel Gibson (an amazing, introverted performance from the normally flagmatic actor), Joaquin Phoenix (definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination), and two wonderful child actors, Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin. The film comes to life, not through special effects and fabricated news reports (although "Signs" does use both to fantastic effect), but through these performances. Gibson plays the emotionally wounded former reverand Graham Hess as the head of a family that has recently survived a great tragedy that has deeply affected his faith in higher powers. Phoenix, as Merrill Hess, plays Gibson's brother, opposites in personality and use of curse words, yet the repore between them is undeniable. Then there are the children, Morgan and Bo. Shyamalan, like Spielberg, is a wizard of working with child actors. Culkin delivers a calm yet brutally truthful and intense performance as the first true believer. Breslin is appropriately cute as the youngest, naive child, yet she is absolutely convincing in her first big scene with Gibson when she asks her father why he talks to his dead wife while he's by himself. "Makes me feel better," he says, after a brief moment of pause. "Does she answer back?" young Bo asks. Gibson, never breaking eye contact, shakes his head and replies "No." After a deep sigh, Breslin says, "She never answers me either." Thus the human element of the film comes even more into the light, and we are immediately drawn into the web Shyamalan has spun for us with this incredible ensemble cast of characters put into a wholly extraordinary situation.
There's not much I can say in the area of plot that won't give something away, but anyone who has seen the previews for "Signs" knows all he/she needs to know. Crop circles, possible aliens, Mel Gibson, a mysterious leg, a butcher knife used as a mirror. I suppose plot doesn't even really matter. I really wrote this review to tell everyone to see this movie as quickly as possible. I haven't been so thoroughly swept off my feet by a movie since I saw "American Beauty" (my all-time favorite film) three years ago. "Signs" is the best film Shyamalan has made. A thriller that pulls out all the stops, uses its soundtrack (or lack thereof) to build tension to a breaking point before letting us take a breather before we're finally catapulted out of our seats when the force of the crap that flies into our pants causes a sonic boom of screams to erupt throughout the theater. Character development, crucial to this movie as it should be in any thriller, is used to draw us in even further as we experience each scene, learning more and more about the lives of these four family members through unfolding details. And of course, Shyamalan never fails to impress me with the way he brings things full circle at the end, when every single line of dialogue and every character quirk he's added in suddenly becomes intregal to the plot, and we wish we hadn't taken that bathroom break.
"Signs" is the first masterpiece of 2002. It may end up being the only masterpiece of the year. Like "The Sixth Sense", I hope this ends up as a timeless thriller that will haunt video shelves and the dreams of audiences for generations to come. This is first-class filmmaking. I can only hope to make a movie this good.
Movie Review: good questions, scary movie, worthwhile watching.
Summary: 5 Stars
It is an excellent example of that scary movie-psychological thriller genre that is epitomized by Alfred Hitchcock. Proving that our imaginations are far more provocation and tumultous when allowed to be-when guided by, hints of images or suggestions of evil rather than being confronted with gruesome in your face reality like you see in slasher films. It's a far more scary movie than anything with dripping blood and constant screaming, mean people in masks, or even zombies in the mall. It is the suggestion, the hint of evil that gets you thinking, that worries you about what is around the next corner, what exactly is that rustling in the cornstalks?
The movie is on a number of interesting levels. The big one for me is the collision of faith with the problem of evil, in this case revolving around the issue of signs, the meaning and purpose of our existence versus randomness-chance-meaninglessness-insignificance. The question is starkly put, the character played by Mel Gibson is a preacher whose wife dies violently pinned between a truck and a tree trunk nearly cut in half, dying as she calmly talks for a last moment with her husband, remembering each family member with a specific phrase. With her death he abandons his faith and his calling, leaving just a shadow of a cross hanging over the bed, where past sunlight bleached the wall around it. Gone now to is his belief in a good God who cares about His creatures and watches over each one, showing His care and concern with signs and miracles.
What is the meaning of events? Especially ones so life changing as his wife's accidental death? What is the meaning and significance of the two kids problems: the young daughter is an compulsive-obsessive about drinking water, leaving partially filled glasses all over the house. The pre-teen son is a serious asthmatic, whose life depends on an inhaler and an occasional shot, any excitement could cause him to breath his last breathe as his airways close off his breathing. These things as well as the baseball bat are cleverly tied into the story line of an alien invasion, seen through the eyes of these people in their home in the middle of a cornfield with massive meaningful (to the aliens) crop circles.
The big questions is about events, how to interpret them as signs and meaningful events, rather than just chance happenstance. To see life as meaningful in the midst of what appears to be large quantities of noise and the random movement of lifeless molecules, how to see signs-events with meaning against the changing background of our often chaotic world.......
The movie offers an answer, one that Mel Gibson takes to heart, regaining both his faith and his clerical collar, that signs are there, they are what you make of them that matters. The son's asthma saves him from the poison gas of the alien, the daughter's water topples off the table burning and killing the alien, "Swing away"-his wife's last words are the spark for the brother to clobber the alien with the bat he set a baseball record with. All things are connected, everything is meaningful and significant, even the little most insignificant (a bit like the bacteria that killed the aliens in "War of the Worlds") have there place, if only we have eyes to see and ears to hear-the meaning of the events.
The movie is ambiguous concerning the next big question, is the meaningfulness there because we see it or is it there because of the way the universe is designed and how history is channelled and controlled. In the first case, the answer is that of faith in faith itself, the power of positive thinking, the prosperity gospel that rain follows the plow, that positive thoughts attract good people and that wealth, power and all good things come to those that believe in their hearts that they deserve these things given to them by a grateful universe that loves and rewards their positive outlook.
It is the sign or the meaningfulness that human beings attach to it that is the locus, the central theme? Are the crop circles meaningful because they are created by the aliens as landing zone markers, or are they meaningful as they mark the graves and failed conquest due to the presence of saving water on the planet? What is the relationship of the sign to the meaning that people attach to it? is it really there or are we just projecting our natural hopefulness onto it? Is it real or just all in our heads? does it matter?
good questions, scary movie, worthwhile watching.
Movie Review: All 'Signs' Point To Great!
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't remember any movie dealing with this subject matter that was this effective, or human, since "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" in 1977. That is the movie that this one will most likely be compared too. Deservedly so. What writer/director/ M. Night Shyamalan has done here is concot a real story that isn't razzle dazzle, flashy, summer invasion epic like "Men In Black" or "Independence Day", but a film that deals with a remarkable matter in a very realistic, human way. I've said 'human' twice now because that's what it is. It's not a far fetched super hero or invincible people battling aliens or doing something fantasy driven. The people here could be you or me. It is an honest look at what we ourselves would do, say, or act, if this was really happening to us. It is done here in a real way. The movie follows former preacher turned farmer Graham Hess(who is played superbly by Mel Gibson), and his two kids Morgan(Rory Culkin, Macaulay's little brother), and Bo(the unbelievebaly adorable and sweet Abigail Breslin). His little brother Merill(Joaquin Phoenix), a former baseball player, also lives with them. One typical morning, the family is awakened to strange designs in their crop fields. Crop circles. It is believed at first to be a hoax, naturally, but our family soon learns that weird things have been going on. This is no hoax. Something serious and dangerous is coming. Something is about to happen. But what?. They, nor we, don't know for sure. That's part of the fun. We don't know exactly how it'll come to an end. How it will climax. What could possibly happen?. This is a movie that would much rather creep you out with what is implied and not seen, than actually seen. It works so incredibly well. What little is seen here and there, is executed in a very scary manner. As I always say, less is better. Shyamalan knows how to use his scares in an effective way. He doesn't cram it down our throats or cheat. He lets it build and build until something is about to happen. That is his style. Slow camera angles and parts that go on a bit until the big jump. It is so good how he does it. He is a master who is only getting better. The movie is also surprisingly funny too. The humor here is not tacked on humor just to throw a little in. The humor comes from these people in a natural manner. It comes from the situations these people are in and how they react to it. Very funny. Like in his previous two films, he appears in this as well. His cameo here is much bigger and important. The cast is really good. This is easily Mel Gibson's best work in a long time. Maybe his very best in fact. He is a man who has lost his way thru a horrible accident and no longer has faith in himself. Trying to cope with his family and his loss is hard, and he fleshes that out in his character. He makes Graham Hess a real person. He is great. Joaquin Phoenix is real too. He also gets some of the best lines. The kids. M. Night knows his kid actors. You can always expect any kid in his films to be good. These two are good. The little girl is the cutest thing in the world. You'll want to take her home. Culkin is solid and watchable. How many Culkins are there?. That's about it. Not a large cast. Cherry Jones as the sheriff is the only other one. The ending might satisfy everyone. I'm fine with it myself, although a little more meat to it would've been very appreciated. It's clear what the ending was doing and trying to be, but not everyone will be up for it. There's a religion arc running thru it that won't win over any non religious people. I'm not gonna say anymore on that subject. I can only imagine the people who whine about the film do so only because they can't sustain a movie for a long amount of time that doesn't spray some kind of eye candy across their face. If you are up for an interesting and fun ride, then pass by the ones that complain the movie is slow and doesn't show enough. If it showed everything, it would've ruined the movie. These people don't know these kinds of things. In the end, this is the kind of movie that takes you on an incredible journey and stays with you. This is just like early Steven Spielberg. It is magical and memorable. My favorite film so far this year. I don't think that will change. A creepy, intriguing film that will no doubt become a late summer surprise just like "The Sixth Sense" was in late summer of 1999. Go see "Signs" and enjoy the best movie so far this summer.