Signs (2002)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Story: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix

Music: James Newton Howard

Time: 106 minutes

Bottom-line: One of the worst alien invasion films ever

M. Night Shyamalan’s science fiction drama, Signs, turns out to be one of the most upsetting films I have ever seen. After being awed by his magnum opus, The Sixth Sense, I expected a lot from this film, but with a sloppy script – with too much sentiment and no story – and hardly any science, this film is one you can certainly skip watching (but don’t skip reading!). Here’s why.

The story revolves around Graham Hess (Gibson), who is a former priest. He lives with his asthmatic son, Morgan (Rory Culkin), daughter Bo (Abagail Breslin) and younger brother, Merrill (Phoenix) – a failed minor league baseball player. His wife has died in a car accident, caused by another town local, Ray Reddy (Shyamalan). Things get creepy when Graham finds a large crop circle in his field. He also learns that animals across the town are getting violent for no reason, and in fact, Morgan is forced to kill one of their dogs that attacks Bo. When they watch the news, they see that similar crop circles are being created all across the globe, and possible signs of alien invasion. With shady figures in their farm, unexpected sounds from the baby monitor and finally, visual footage of aliens, the family starts to prepare for the worst. What will these aliens do?

 

Gibson as Graham

I remember reading about crop circles long ago when I had to write an article about some common myths that exist in today’s world. My interest in the film increased all the more when I got to know it dealt with the same topic. Of course, later I got to know the film has barely any science in it, nor action. In one way it is like Arrival – the actual aliens are never shown (till the very end, in this case), but their presence is implied through other means. The suspense is initially built up well, but it leads to big expectations. We are shown a worldwide phenomenon of alien “attacks” and then abruptly, we are told they are all gone.

The theme could possibly be how a family deals with an unknown predator, and how they are there for each other in troubled times. Yet, somehow that emotion that we are supposed to feel never bloomed in me – I just sat there waiting there for some action or plot twist, with no avail. There are few effective scares and chills – especially the first sighting of the alien in the birthday party – and bits of humour. The overall pace is extremely slow, and by the time something actually happens, the film is over. I was at least hoping for the film to end on a high note but again, the anti-climax proved to be disappointing.   

 

(From left) Culkin as Morgan, Phoenix as Merrill,
 and Breslin as Bo

Mel Gibson’s acting was decent – playing the responsible father trying to regroup his family after his wife’s death. Rory Culkin’s acting was quite good; he plays the elder brother, and the far more mature sibling. Bo is undoubtedly the most irritating film character I have seen in a long while. I guess Shyamalan wanted children in his story but he could have done well with just Morgan. I have no idea what Bo’s purpose is! Joaquin Phoenix does a good job in the supporting role.   

Signs is a disappointment in every way except for the acting. The film wasted enough of my time, so please do not make that mistake; watch some other film.

My Rating: 1/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 74%