Even when you aren't very interested in UFO's and aliens, this movie is worth watching

Rating: 7/10 (20 May 2005)

Manoj Night Shyamalan seems to have a special bond with all that is mystical and mysterious. Almost all his movies have something special. Think of "The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable" and the "The Village". You can never really call them a normal drama or thriller. And it's exactly the same with "Signs", which is about the Hess family who seems to live a normal live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
After the death of his wife in an awful accident, Reverend Graham Hess questioned his faith and even left the church. All seems to be normal now, but when he finds a giant crop circle in the middle of his corn fields and several similar events happen all over the world, he really doesn't know what to think anymore. His children believe it is the work of extra-terrestrials, but his brother Merill is convinced that some local pranksters did it. But soon they realize that this is a lot bigger than they could ever imagine and all that is really sure is that something bad is about to happen...
Some people pointed out that the end of the movie was so bad that it spoiled all the rest. Well, I can't really find myself in that opinion. It's true that the end could have been better, but in my opinion it still contributes to the whole of the movie. Still, it was one of the weakest parts of the entire movie, which most of the time offered plenty of suspense and thrills and some decent acting.
Certainly worth noticing is the young Abigail Breslin who is nice to watch and who did a terrific job despite her young age. All the others like Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix and Rory Culkin did a pretty good job as well, but she was the one that I really noticed.
Overall this is a decent movie that will please all people who are interested in phenomenons like aliens and UFO's, but even when you aren't a big fan of such stories (I'm one of them), this movie is worth a watch because it is a lot better than the average Sci-Fi film. Mr. Shyamalan proves with this movie that perhaps he isn't a master in writing dialogs, but that he sure knows the techniques to make a movie suspenseful and interesting to watch. I give it a 7/10.