Cosmic Claptrap

Rating: Null/10 (3 September 2002)

M. Night Shyamalan's SIGNS is one of the most remarkable displays of sheer craftsmanship triumphing over vacuous material that I have seen in years. A former minister turned farmer who has recently lost his wife in a grisly car accident wakes up to find his Pennsylvania cornfield bedecked with a trio of huge crop circles, the husks flattened as if by an imaginary , unseen giant. As Graham Hess ( Mel Gibson ) and his younger brother and two children look on , trying to fathom what has caused this phenomenon, director Shyamalan very cleverly wraps the audience around his cinematic green thumb : questions abound - have aliens invaded the Hess property , or have a local gang of troublesome goons decided to wreak havoc on this good man's family? And what about the eerie sounds being picked up by a seemingly ordinary baby monitor? At other times porch chimes clink in a mad cacophony of sound and a child's swing set moves erratically, not by a sudden breeze but a menacing presence that has just slipped into that cornfield beyond. All this is orchestrated by a master film technician having great fun keeping the viewer on the edge of his seat. When the film starts to get heavy with portentous signs of Armageddon ( alien spacecraft are seen hovering over major cities of the world , compliments of a CNN -like newscast ) , Shyamalan leavens the mood with unexpected, goofy moments of humor ( brother Merrill becomes a manic t.v. news junkie, the two kids don homemade aluminum foil hats that look like giant Hershey Kisses .) As the film draws toward its by now not very surprising conclusion, one is amazed out how this incredibly talented young filmmaker has milked a plot so devoid of substance and yet has made a movie that is by and large a riveting experience. He borrows shamelessly from Hitchcock (check out those elegant opening credits and James Newton Howard's magnetic, Bernard Herrmann influenced score ) but he also has his own very definite strengths. Aside from a brilliant mastery of editing and sound design , Shyamalan knows how to bring out the best in actors. Mel Gibson gives his most relaxed and appealing performance in a long time. Joaquin Phoenix displays an immensely likable, goofy charm as the brother and last but not least, the two kids are terrific. Rory Culkin , so good in YOU CAN COUNT ON ME , has a precocious flippancy that provides much needed humor and Abigail Breslin as his younger sister Bo is absolutely adorable; both children emerge as real kids, no small achievement. As to what lurks in those mysterious cornfields, I'll leave that to the uninitiated. The cornfields may be hollow, and you may feel that you've been had by film's end , but M. Night Shyamalan is a ingenious huckster who has you believing while you're watching his teasing, thorny thicket of a movie.