Someone was bound to do a movie on crop circles sooner or later, and "Signs" is writer and director M. Night Shyamalan's attempt to explain the supernatural phenomenon. It seems clear why no one ever touched this topic before -- the options are just a little too limited. Either aliens formulated the designs or some bored farmer decided to play a prank. Here, however, the ambiguous previews seem to signal that the outcome doesn't matter. With stars like Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix, "Signs" would be successful if all they did was pick corn for an hour and a half.
"Signs" follows the Hess family as they deal with the sudden appearance of bizarre designs in their field. Gibson plays Graham Hess, a former reverend shaken by the tragic loss of his wife. Everyone knows that Gibson has been in a variety of roles over the years, but he always gives the same witty, down-to-earth performance. Count on more of the same here, even if some of his scenes prove terrifying.
Phoenix has become recognizable in Hollywood after his "Am I not merciful?" work in "Gladiator." Although his role as Graham's brother Merrill is not as compelling, Phoenix turns in another great performance.
The last two members of the family are Graham's son and daughter. The little girl that we've all seen in the preview has one of those naturally haunting faces and is quite effective. Given those famous one-liners, she even reminds me of Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense." "There's a monster outside my room. Can I have a glass of water?" has the same sort of effect as "I see dead people."
Even with some good acting, a poor storyline always makes for a bad movie. "Signs" had two chances to make good in this respect, considering that the story has an underlying theme in addition to the main subject matter.
The central idea deals, quite obviously, with the crop circles. Frankly, nothing exciting happens here. Viewers are left to watch with less than bated breath as the Hess family sits in front of their own television to observe any developments as similar patterns begin to appear around the world. If you find watching a group of frantic people exciting, as in "The Blair Witch Project," "Signs" might just be your cup of tea. Shyamalan even throws in some creepy flashlight use. These techniques, however, just did not cut it for me. Let's just say that I stayed about as far away as possible from the edge of my seat.
The other aforementioned approach to the movie appeals to religious folks rather than to those looking for a horror flick (although one would think it difficult to combine both strains in the same movie). Graham's struggle with his faith takes center stage and the crop circle story is only used as a means to an end.
Certain people who think of themselves as intellectuals view the movie on this level. Needless to say, these are also the same people who liked "Signs." In order to do so, you must ignore some major flaws. Belief in a higher power is not something that people, especially those in the religious profession, turn on and off with every good and bad thing that happens in their life. Also, Graham's faith or lack thereof has no effect on anything that happens in the movie. The whole topic is only mentioned once in a short conversation between Graham and Merrill.
While "Signs" fails overall, the movie succeeds on a level that you will least expect after just watching the preview. I laughed more during this movie than at the summer comedy blockbusters of "Goldmember" and "Mr. Deeds." Combined. Although used mainly as comic relief from the whole crop circle story, the movie could easily be made into an extraterrestrial comedy along the lines of "Men in Black." The ending, as much as I hated it, is pretty funny in an Ed Wood horror movie kind of way.
Shyamalan's prior two attempts at suspense were quite successful. "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" were both amazing movies and the ending to each allowed the rest of the movie to be seen in a completely different light. I expected and hoped for the same magic to occur in "Signs." The ending did shock me, but not in a good way; it is one of the most ridiculous finales ever. I have always based my opinion of a movie on how it ends, so any hope of a good review went up in flames during the last few minutes.
Shyamalan is easily compared to Alfred Hitchcock -- they both make personal appearances in their movies and are both masters of mystery and suspense. However, Hitchcock never resorts to using little green men in his movies. Shyamalan completely swings at air with "Signs," and I'm talking about one of those that you can feel if you're sitting in the bleachers. No need to worry -- you get three strikes in baseball. Swing away, Night.
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