Signs 2002
I watched this one on pay per view. I had heard that it was a good movie though not as good as The Sixth Sense. I would tend to agree with that.
On the surface the movie is about aliens visiting earth, but in a realistic way: nobody wants to really believe that until they just don’t have a choice. Mel Gibson’s main character (a father of two young kids who has lost his wife and left the clergy) insists on believing the crop circles that showed up on his land are a hoax (like all previous ones).
On a deeper level the movie is about this guy’s loss of faith, contrasting it with his brother, who still has faith and his kids who have it too and need their father to find it again. That’s the more interesting story and what separates this from just another sci-fi alien flick. The always creepy Joaquin Phoenix (playing the brother) actually gets to be a normal good guy and he plays his small part well. In fact all the acting performances are pretty good.
But the movie has a hard time getting away from its monster movie War of the Worlds archetype. The presence of the aliens is scary and suspenseful. They don’t show you the aliens for the most part, just give you hints that they are somewhere close by. The unknown is always scarier than the known and the director, M. Night Shyamalan, knows this and uses it well just as he did in Sixth Sense. Both halves of the movie need the other, but, alone, neither half would distinguish itself.
The ending, while not a huge twist, does a great job of tying everything together. I like a movie that can pull all the pieces in and make everything nice and neat.
I don’t think Mel Gibson’s performance is great, but he can’t help but be good. While also not an Oscar contender for writing or directing, this is still a movie that’s well worth watching. If you like monster movies you should enjoy this all the more because it offers more substance than most of that genre. I don’t really like monster movies, but still enjoyed this. Kids and squeamish adults could have recurring nightmares about the aliens, so be warned.
I’ll give it a B+