An objective view of Signs

Rating: 7/10 (5 September 2002)

In an age in which movie soundtracks are marketed as separate albums and singles, where soundtracks contribute to the overall ambience and mood of each scene in a film and moviegoers are subconsiously aware of a soundtrack throughout the running lenght of a film, the one thing that strikes anyone when they watch Signs is the spartan soundtrack, which by virtue of its sparseness, heightens many scenes and delivers more feel and tension to scenes in the film. Everything seems unusally loud and moviegoers are transported into the film along with the cast. There is nothing to distract anyone from what unfurls onscreen, nothing. Another aspect of signs is the camera work. The photography is indirect and has a very artistic feel to it. But it is also a letdown.
What may have otherwisebeen accomplished with pomp and superb camera work is not. The camera angles and shooting of the concluding sequence in Graham's living room is surprising and lacks what one would expect. It's as if Shyamalan couldn't handle an action sequence. What Shyamalan wins by way of build-up and mystery, he looses in leaving too many loose ends and too much left unexplained. In an era of films like Independence Day and such, Signs leads us to beleive we will see more of some contact between intergalatic races and then when we do not, it is a letdown. A sort of anticlimax. And then, in retrospect, the film is not smooth. Scenes just seem to be put together with no flow and some times even border on ridiculous and cumbersome. What saves the movie and is worth serious moviegoers' time, is a superb performance by Mel Gibson, climaxing in an emotional dinner scene with his family. All in all, SIgns is a grabber upto the last ten minutes.