A good bad story

Rating: 5/10 (21 September 2002)

When I first saw The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan 1999) I was in awe. "You've got to add a few twists and turns," I think the little kid Cole (Haley Joel Osment) said. Well, sadly that's what's lacking in Signs. It begins very well, though. All in all it's extremely exiting, funny and not to mention down right scary. There's some good acting too. That man does magic with kids. So, there is no doubt that Mr. Shyamalan has gotten much better at calculating story effect and to execute it on the screen. In that respect it is a powerfully entertaining film. In fact it's so well done, technically speaking, that it almost makes up for the extremely closed up Hollywood-happy-ending. I suppose it isn't a spoiler to reveal that yes, it has a happy ending. There's nothing wrong in that either! The Sixth Sense had a happy ending as well, but the big difference is that Sixth Sense wasn't a cliché. Or maybe, after seeing that already classic film, and the lesser but still very good Unbreakable; is it that I just have too high expectations? In Signs he doesn't once dare to challenge the audience (other than scaring us a little of course, but that's expected of a thriller), and he takes that to the bitter end. Well, this is OK as long as you're just trying to entertain. But I don't think that's all Shyamalan is doing. He's throwing in a huge chunk of morale as well. He is trying to teach, which isn't a bad idea if you've got something new and important to tell. This however, wasn't terribly important, and not really new. So stop insulting my intelligence! Next time I want the same amount of superb technique and thrill, but please; get rid of the blatantly cute moralistic clichés.