Decent film, but...

Rating: 7/10 (26 August 2002)

***Spoilers***
I think this movie had two working titles, and they couldn't figure out which one to use, which is why they settled on "Signs". The first was, "Episcopal priest regains lost faith". The second was "Blue Man Group proves to be history's stupidest invaders".
Here's the strengths: I like character-driven movies. Say what you will about whether the script or the acting were convincing, this was deeply character driven. Shyamalan felt much more comfortable with this movie, going for a few jokes that were decent. The "scary" parts were of the "POW!" variety, often accented with a tympani, and appeared to be spaced evenly, in a very calculated fashion, throughout the film. Although I found those moments reasonably fun if not all that startling, the audience around me screamed like startled geese, which I guess made it a little more interesting. The philosophical heart of the movie seemed kind of forced, especially Hess chanting "There are no coincidences, his lungs were closed" over and over again, but it was ultimately quite satisfying. As a father myself, I was easily drawn into the father-as-protector story, and I enjoyed that quite a bit. Shyamalan also did a good job of building suspense, working well with glimpses and noises rather than all-out attack. He obviously knows the truth that so many filmmakers seem to have a hard time grasping: The unseen is much scarier and more suspenseful than the seen. Likewise, he has a Kubrick-esque talent for letting a scene develop slowly. Action is often unnecessary, and the biggest payoffs come from a patient director. There was plenty of that in this flick.
Weaknesses: Like "The Sixth Sense" (which I liked a whole lot more), this film telegraphed its revelations from miles away. The super-strong homerun hitter will, of course, save the day with a baseball bat. Saw that one a mile away. "I'm moving near a lake, because for some unexplained reason I think they don't like water". Another telegraph. Not a big deal, but when the movie is supposed to have this big payoff at the end, it would be better if there were some surprises. There were none. And if you're going to try to make a plot point about how all the ships are hovering next to crop circles, PLEASE PLEASE don't, in the next moment, show me ships hovering over the Capitol in Washington, DC. (which also happens to be surrounded by water). And I couldn't help wondering why the Hess family, who had grown up in that farmhouse, had no idea where the coal chute was. Or why the invaders could leap 20 feet in the air in a heartbeat, but couldn't get past a loosely-locked door (or why they gave up on the coal chute, since no one actually blocked it much). I'm not a nitpicky moviegoer. Most of this stuff just washes by me, so when I actually notice it in a movie, the filmmaker must really be letting his guard down. And, of course, there's the whole "Why invade a water-covered planet if it kills you" question that I'm sure many have already raised.
I never know what to make of movies that draw heavily and obviously on other influences. When the camera dropped, Blair Witch-style, in the basement, I fully expected to see Mike standing in the corner, waiting to be killed. The obvious references to other classics in the genre were equally distracting, but they didn't have to be. But with all that said, I still think this was the best movie I saw this summer. I'm not quite sure how it made it so high onto the imdb all-time list, but it was a lot better than Minority Report. It's worth the 8 bucks, especially if you can see it in a full theater.