****1/2 out of 5

Rating: Null/10 (9 February 2003)

Note- reading this before seeing the film could take away from your viewing pleasure! One day the tortoise and the hair prepared themselves for a race. Knowing he had the advantage over the tortoise and sure of his ability to win, the hair flew right by the tortoise leaving him to choke on the dust. Realizing his lengthy lead in time, the hair sat down for a quick nap. Upon returning to humanity from his state of slumber the hair noticed that the tortoise was about to defeat him and ruin his pride. With all his might the hair charged for the finish line with all his strength but his speed was not able to overcome the tortoise's brawn. The moral of the story is `slow and steady wins the race.' Director M Night Shyamalan must have been paying close attention in kindergarten because he makes prolific use of this moral. The hair represents Modern horror films. They try to squeeze too much out of to little. The possibility of victory is present, but the follow-through is rarely executed. Everything seems to be crammed into the first half an hour (if that) and then everything is put on snooze. When finally waking up, the story must charge full-speed-ahead to catch up with itself because closing. Rarely does this happen resulting in contrived endings and illogical situations. Then, from the heavens, a savoir was sent to thwart the sins of these painful horror flicks and make a film that a tortoise could be proud of. A film that is just as edgy as it smart. That man was M. Night Shyamalan and that film was The Sixth Sense. The film moved at the pace of a tortoise (maybe slower) and because of this allowed for strong characterization, deep thinking and to be dramatic as hell. It turned out to be a huge summer hit that thrilled and baffled audiences alike. Not since Psycho was a film so respected that the ending was not given away. Working with the theory of `if it isn't broke don't fix it', Shyamalan returned with Unbreakable. Maybe the film was a disappointment because of the high standards placed upon it from The Sixth Sense, or maybe because it seemed to be nothing more than a retread through old water. Either way Shyamalan tried so hard to make a film that would live up to The Sixth Sense he failed. Now Shyamalan is not a stupid man. He saw a change in the cards for his next feature, Signs. To make another Sixth Sense would have been a bad career move; some maybe even expected that to happen. So he decided to take on an entirely different angle in the storytelling department without sacrificing any of his trademark style. This is the simple story, of a simple man, with a simple life who receives a complex lesson. Graham is an ex-reverend who lives on a quiet piece of farmland with his two unique children and his ex-baseball-playing brother. Graham had a lapse in faith when his wife was killed and now he can't understand why God would do such a thing to him. He bears her burden everyday of his life, often calling out to her in his sleep to receive only silence. `She doesn't answer?' Asks his daughter. But this once simple man is given a rude awakening when unexplainable occurrences start happening around town. Events that see huge circles appear in corn fields, sees mysterious strangers exhibit unusual behaviour around town, sees once peaceful pets turn ravenous in the blink of an eye and sees the world go into a mass media frenzy when these crop circles and unexplained lights start showing up all over the planet. Everything then comes down to, not a war or worlds, or even a war at all, but rather a struggle of belief. As started in the English dictionary, belief is said to be a feeling that something is true, but to believe one must first get inside the unknown and sink beneath the surface, not everything is gained at face value. In religion the argument of `experience' states `some people talk about God in terms of personal experience. They believe that they can know God personally by prayer. Within religion believers sometimes talk about 'encountering God' through prayer and worship. Within the world of religion, some people believe that miracles are events which because of our faith, demonstrate that God is alive and active. That is then countered with the `An unfair God' statement which reads as such ` Some psychologists claim that religious 'experiences' are tricks of the mind, that if we want to really believe in something than we will. Within regard to miracles, even if some were 'true' then what kind of God is it that allows some people to be healed but not others? This hardly seems a God that is fair and just.' The basis of this film is woven around both of those issues. Yet this is not a religious film with a sci-fi twist, nor is it trying to preach to anyone. This film is a deep study of how the mind functions between what is considered reality and what is considered faith. At first glace this appeared as nothing more than an abstract, Saturday mourning creature feature. Such is not the case. Earlier I stated that not everything is gained at face value. This is why it is imperative to look beneath the surface. The aliens here are not aliens at all. There is very little development given to the visitors. We don't know where them came from, why they are here, or what their intentions are. When authors leave characters in their stories nameless it is because they want you to relate to that character on a personal level. In not giving any information about the aliens Shyamalan is allowing the audience to relate to them whichever way the viewer pleases. Leaving this open inevitably lets the audience determine what the film is about and what they will take away from it. Although instruments of fear, the aliens aren't used to toy with characters emotions. They are rather, beacons of faith. There are two types of people in the world tells Graham. There are those who believe in miracles and signs and there are those who think there is no one looking out for them. Since Graham thinks there is no one looking out for him, he is placed into the second type of person. His faith is flailing in the wind, ready to detach itself from the body and soul at any minute, Yet Graham still has the power to grab it if he wishes, but usually it isn't just that easy. With the coming of the aliens Graham is sent on his own personal vision quest. Are they someone's idea of a joke? Did God send them? Did his wife send them? He doesn't know but he is going to find out one way or another. In order to understand a situation you must understand the answers, and to understand the answers you must first search for them. It is the aliens who propel Graham to find those answers to the unexplained things in his life, often without even knowing he is doing it. Shyamalan writes another electrifying script that unlike the Sixth Sense, presents the viewer with the situations and only loosely ties them together in the end. This leaves the viewers on just as much of a search for answers as our main character and allows for more critical thinking than required by The Sixth Sense. Although this method of scripting proved just as effective as The Sixth Sense the ending did seem rather uncalled for. Even though it did its job in bringing everything together, there was nothing interesting about, even ruining some of the dramatic build-up. Also without the `surprise' ending some people will not be able to pick up on what this film is trying to get across. Nevertheless it makes up for that with Shyamalan's highly symbolic storytelling. Have you ever had a puzzle that once completed you glued to a piece of cardboards so that it would never fall apart on you? Shyamalan's direction acts as that glue. His ultra-slow pacing allows for mass character development and allows for greater tension between every connecting joint. He is also able to manipulate the camera in such a way that you are given just enough effect that determining what is important and what isn't is an impossibility. People keep coming back to Shyamalan's films because he requires a great deal of audience participation. You are the ones digging to find the clues; he is only providing the interrogation so that you can be granted access to the characters mind and soul. With a new actor comes a new set of expectations. Bruce Willis would be a hard act to follow if the casting for this film wasn't perfect. Shyamalan knew he has to bring in an actor who could match Willis' dramatic capability. Mel Gibson was the choice and a right choice he was. Gibson gives his best performance since Braveheart. He acts every emotion down to its last haunting detail. We have no trouble feeling that he is going through a time of struggle but he never lets us forget that he is also a loving parents and an everyday human being. Shyamalan has a knack for brining emotions out of his characters that are disturbing and unexplainable but at the same time uncharacteristically human. For a film that had to compete against The Sixth Sense this one was able to hold its ground fine, it's thinking mans version of tell-me-a-scary-story fun. Although it didn't surpass The Sixth Sense its yearning to trying something new was welcomed with open arms making it (alongside Frailty) one of the best thrillers, if not films, that last year had to offer.