Signs

The first half of Signs was much better than I expected. Unfortunately, the second half was much worse than I expected, leaving a bad taste in my mouth for this movie that I just couldn't shake.

Signs stars Mel Gibson as Graham Hess, a former priest who has lost his faith in God and is just a bit bitter with his whole religion. He lives in an old farmhouse with his two children Bo (Abigail Breslin) and Morgan (Rory Culkin) and his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix). We soon learn that Graham's parting with God occurred because his wife was killed in a car accident and he blames God for taking her from him.

As the Hess family goes on with their unhappy life, strange events start to take place around them. Unexplained crop circles in various shapes start showing up in fields all around the world including the corn fields of the Hess family farm. The film continues to build suspense as we start to realize that these crop circles were left by aliens who are on their way to Earth. Of course, these aliens are not friendly and want to invade and take over the Earth.

Up to this point, Signs is actually a very good movie. The suspense just builds and builds and there are some truly scary scenes, like the video of a child's birthday party that is shown on the news in which we get a glimpse of one of the aliens for just a second. Just the thought of that scene still gives me chills to this day!

But the movie just goes downhill from here. Graham decides that the family should hole up in the house and they will be safe from the invading aliens. They all go around boarding up windows and doors and decide to move into the basement as the aliens start trying to get into their home. Like most of the second half of the film, none of this makes any sense. These aliens are huge and apparently have super human strength, yet they can lock one of them in a room and it can't get out. Besides, wouldn't they be able to just bomb all the houses and take out all the humans from the air? What's with the door to door ground assault?

Then, as in usual M. Night Shyamalan style, we have an ending (which I won't reveal) with a huge twist that, just like the rest of the movie, doesn't make any sense. Yes, it ties up all the loose ends very nicely, but it's just ridiculous. It all just didn't work for me. It was too perfect.

Signs is not an awful movie but it does not live up to what M. Night Shyamalan is capable of as he proved with Unbreakable, another movie with a twist ending but it worked. If you are going to watch Signs, I recommend going into it with your expectations set correctly. Watch the first half and enjoy how it builds suspense and mystery, just be prepared for the letdown that comes with the ending.

More Signs Movie Reviews

Movie Review of Signs at Movie ram-blings
Signs Movie Review by Scott Aaronson