A modern day Book of Job that would make Hitchcock proud.

Rating: 8/10 (1 September 2002)

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** If you are a believer that a suspenseful story cannot be well told with a compensating shock in the end to justify the telling, if you think that suspense requires action and flash more so than innuendo and suggestion for the mind's eye, if you are convinced that rich subtext and characterization cannot compete with a focus exploration of the actual menace made manifest before your eyes, then Signs is definitely not the movie for you.
But, if you like what Hitchcock used to do with audiences, if you admire way Kubrick would frame the shot, or if you like films that explore internal human struggles as much as they expose the external forces with which we contend then you will find Signs to be a very satisfying achievement.
The crisis of Graham Hess is brilliantly intertwined with a worldwide crisis. But things develop slowly, carefully, meticulously constructed such that far more is happening in your mind than on the screen. This is a precious, rare commodity in today's filmmaking. M. Night Shyamalan deserves the highest respect for this achievement. Sure, the film will have its detractors because it doesn't sizzle, it doesn't have very much action, there are some minor plot holes and it doesn't really grab you and throw you for the loop you expect to get after such a long, relentless build-up. But, for those who enjoy subtly of narrative development and depth of character, Signs is a refreshing moment in a summer filled with utter mediocrity.

Shyamalan uses the film to ask `Is it possible that there are no co-incidences?' or, to put it another way, `Can events be `signs' of bigger things?' His main character, Graham Hess, a former Episcopalian Priest, thinks he knows the answer. But, the events of Signs lead him to ultimately reevaluate his answer. In this way, the film effectively works on two levels simultaneously thereby making it Shyamalan's greatest work to date.
On one level we have the invasion of the earth by extraterrestrials. We slowly learn this based upon glimpses (small signs) of their physical presence and an outbreak of a worldwide crop-circle phenomenon (large signs). On another level Graham Hess has lost his faith due to a personal tragedy. We slowly learn the nature of this through various characters insistence on calling him `Father' and in dreams that he has reflecting his final meeting with his now dead wife.
Shyamalan plays both these levels off each another throughout the film in and by the extensive use of irony. Here are several examples.
When Graham and Caroline are in the cornfield, he turns and walks away from her, pausing and states: `Caroline, stop calling me Father.' Caroline: `What's wrong?' `I don't hear my children.' In this sense Graham's response refers most immediately to the fact that he can't hear Bo and Morgan playing. But, at a deeper level it means he no longer hears his congregation and therefore, introduces his spiritual crisis.
Bo leaves dozens of `half-empty' glasses of water on furniture throughout the house. Many of the film's critics find fault with this. Like most of the film's detractors, they attempt to apply (shallow, obvious) reason where it doesn't belong. This is offered as a sign of some nebulous form of metaphysical trouble. By the same token, these glasses - `half-full' - represent a sign that some force is making ready to take on the alien that invades the Hess home late in the film. Water burns the alien's skin like acid - which perhaps is the primary reason for their aborting their invasion of the earth.
To `protect' the children from `becoming obsessed' with news events on TV, Merrill secludes himself in the closet under the stairway with the TV thereby becoming obsessed himself. In this way he learns that `experts' now think the crop-circles engulfing the globe are signs by which to navigate the planet, by which to `make sense' of the earth's terrain. In the end, however, it is the coming of the aliens that provides Graham with the signs he needs to recover his faith.
Before Graham reaches for the knife by which to see what lies under the door to Ray's pantry, Shyamalan shows us sliced vegetables on a cutting board - signs of a knife. Then we pan left to reveal the knife lying there. Graham then cuts off a couple of fingers of the alien within the pantry when it abruptly reaches out for him from under the door. Later, these missing fingers are a sign as to which alien captures Morgan toward the end of the
film and feeds with other memories of signs in Graham's mind resulting in what becomes a resolution to the immediate crisis.
Merrill's reference to events being `like War of the Worlds' plays nicely into the TV's description of ground forces assembling and people flocking to churches and synagogues. Here, Shyamalan pays tribute to that classic sci-fi flick. That's exactly what happens in that movie. But, Graham reacts to people turning to religion in this moment of crisis lukewarmly. `I'm going back to the windows,' he says and returns to boarding up the house.so things can't get in.so you can't see out. No signs allowed, that's the attitude of the former Father Hess.
Here we need to discuss to more criticisms of the film. Many contend that the boarding up of the house is a rip off of previous films. They also contend that Graham and Merrill are inept in the manner that they deal with the crisis. The second criticism is ridiculous. Graham and Merrill and not strong characters. The critics want something that Shyamalan is not attempting to provide. The main characters are not heroic, they are faced with this crisis while bearing a tremendous wound and while having little or no inner strength to draw upon. You might not like this fact, but it is handled quite well, works as Shyamalan intends. Not liking a character is not evidence of either lack of character development or poor characterization.
The first criticism fails to see that the film seeks to pay homage to the genre (particularly to Alfred Hitchcock). Sure boarding yourself up in your house has been done before. But, never in this context. It is the context that is important whenever reading a sign and Signs is a collection of signs. In this context, it represents an attempt to shut out the world, mirroring the psychological struggle of the whole family in general and in Graham in particular. The criticism is shallow outcry of a viewpoint greedy for action, reason, strength, and effect when the entire point of the film is based on none of these.
As the family is crying together at the dinner table, we pull back through the food and, more significantly, glasses of water to reveal the baby monitor, which immediately picks up on alien signals. Graham then goes to check the TV only to discover there is no signal, a sign that, as Graham says, `It's happening.'
In the final memory of Colleen, Graham hears her say that the truck hitting her `was meant to be' which is exactly the way a dejected Ray describes it earlier in the film. In other words, they are telling Graham that the accident is a meaningful co-incidence. He has rejected such a view. But, his rejection has blinded him to signs both past and present. (Just like the critics of the film.) Graham tells Merrill that the last thing Colleen said was `See' and `Swing away.' That Colleen was remembering a baseball game where Merrill was at bat. But, in reality what she said was for GRAHAM to `see' and for Merrill to `swing away.' Whether Graham intentionally misrepresents the event to Merrill or he simply doesn't remember clearly at that point is not made clear to us. But, the point is that Colleen is calling Graham to `see' and in the context of the film to `see' the signs - which is a sign unto itself.
The conversation between Graham and Merrill takes place during the second most important scene of the film. Merrill is seeking comfort from Graham, he wants Graham to say something to take away the anxiety of Armageddon. Graham, in a philosophical tone, tells him that there are basically two kinds of people. Those who see events as signs and therefore have hope and those that see events as random chance and are therefore filled with fear. Those with hope have it because `deep down they feel there will be someone to help them.' Those with fear have it because `deep down they feel they're on their own.'
Merrill says he is `a miracle man,' a man of hope. But, Graham insists that things are random and `we are all alone.' The irony of this statement comes later when Morgan has an asthma attack as aliens invade the Hess home. This is the film's most important scene. Graham takes his son in his arms and helps him through the asthma attack without medication. `The fear is feeding it,' he tells Morgan. `Believe it is going to pass. Breath with me. Together. We're the same.'
This marvelous scene sets up Graham's - and the world's - redemption. Simultaneously, while helping Morgan through his asthma attack, as he tells his son to `believe,' Graham begins to believe in God again. How? Ironically, by declaring his hate for God. This hate is his first step on the road back to the priesthood.
It is perhaps the greatest irony that Morgan has asthma and it saves his life. Because his lungs are closed (placing him near death) when the alien attempts to inject poison gas through his nose, Morgan survives the assault. Equally ironic, because Bo has left glasses of water lying around the house, the final alien is scalded and falls under the blows of the bat from a minor league baseball strikeout king.
There are many levels to Shyamalan's screenplay and they are all orchestrated in terrific harmony under his directorship. Signs is a film that clearly tells us `there are no such things as coincidences.' `Everything happens for a reason.' `Hope will win out over fear.' Whether or not you agree with this message, whether you find flaw with the film's ending in relation to its relentless build-up, Signs is nevertheless a modern version of the biblical Book of Job. It is meant to create anxiety as entertainment while offering you an optimistic message as well. You can either accept this offering or not. But, M. Night Shyamalan has crafted his story well and has given us a work that will affect you in many ways the deeper you look into it.