The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Rating: 7/10 (6 August 2002)

I loved "Signs".....and I hated it. The basic sci-fi idea is good, the script and direction are bad, and the creature is ugly. As a homage to "The Thing", "War of the Worlds", "Night of the Living Dead" and Hitchcock's "Birds", this movie is right on. The scary corn field, the quick glimpses of our alien visitors, the spooky sound effects, the lights going out at just the right moment...all guaranteed to make you spill a little popcorn. And there are some genuinely funny scenes, too. However, M.N.S's script and direction are so slow and ponderous between these high points as to make one feel sleepy and bored. Watching Mel Gibson trying to act out a crisis of personal faith is like watching paint dry. This has to be his dullest performance to date. The rest of the cast is good (check out the creepy performance by the actor playing the recruiting officer talking to Joaquin Phoenix) but the words they are given to speak never sound natural or real. It's almost like watching a bad stage play. My advice to Night: keep coming up with unique ideas and hooks for the audience, but stay out of directing and acting. As Stephen King found out, it's best to leave these things to the professionals.