“Signs”
"Signs" — PG-13Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix
Aliens are attacking the earth. Or are they? Is it an immaculate hoax ... a "War of the Worlds" for television? Or is it the real thing?
That's the $64,000 question that writer/director/producer/ actor M. Night Shyamalan's third major release ("Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable"), puts before us.
Crop circles show up in Gibson's (a former priest at odds with God for allowing his wife to die) corn field, and as he and his family soon find out, all over the world, as well. Whether to believe or not, becomes the crux of the movie on two fronts.
For Gibson, it's whether to believe in God — that signs are miracles — or is everything just plain luck, and whether to believe that the circles are indeed for real.
DT: Well, don't forget we have to warn people there's a Culkin in it. This time it's "Little Rory."
DM: Hey, you want a creepy little kid, you get a Culkin. Besides, he's actually pretty convincing.
DT: First off, whether or not you believe in aliens, or crop circles, this movie is entertaining for a number of reasons.
No. 1: It's got plenty of scares that will make you jump out of your seat. You know, the kind when everyone flails back in their chairs and moves the theater back about five inches? No. 2: There's tons of well-placed humor. Not that Adam Sandler would be good in "Signs."
DM: Adam Sandler wouldn't be good in anything.
DT: True. Stop interrupting me. No. 3: The suspense factor is high. No. 4: The relationship between the characters is so well developed.
DM: In his previous two movies, Shyamalan has displayed a real knack for showing the audience just enough to keep them on the edge of their seats and he consistently keeps important details on the very edge of the screen, just far enough on and off camera to entice the audience's imagination. He makes them create the lurking doom in their minds. That's why I like him so much. He assumes that his audience is intelligent enough to pick up the ball and run with it.
DT: He definitely knows that not showing things is more suspenseful and interesting than just throwing it all out there on the screen. The things that you don't see are more frightening than the things that you do see. See?
DM: Yeah, I found myself looking outside of the camera's focal point because everything he does taunts you from just off camera, or close to it. Whether it's an alien leg in the cornfield, or a mystery man on top of the barn roof, silhouetted in the moonlight, he just gives you a quick glimpse, and then it's off the screen. You're just never sure what to believe is true, and that makes for a great plot. You're just never sure where Shyamalan is going to take you, so you sit back and enjoy being frightened, thrilled and entertained. He is a master story-teller.
DT: What else can we say about it? We'd hate to give away any kind of plot points. That would be robbing you of what you deserve. You're better off knowing as little as possible, which is about what we tell you.
DM: So true. We can tell the public nothing better than anyone.
DT: Our best advice? Go see it, and be scared ... be very a-scared.
DM: Maybe not scared. Creeped out with the willies, maybe? Whatever. Just go see it. It will be well worth your time.