An overrated insult to the intelligence

Rating: 2/10 (29 December 2003)

There are many movies out there that are extremely overrated. Sixth Sense, a masterpiece by writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, was overrated; it was good but not that good; it had many holes in the plot. However, when it comes to being overrated, Signs is in a category all by itself.
Take away Mel Gibson and replace him with an unknown actor, and this is a B-movie. Take away the popularity of the man who directed it, and this film would have been as easily forgotten as Xtro and Not Like Us. The popularity that Sixth Sense enjoyed gave Signs one hell of a boost. The fact that Signs has a few scary scenes has swindled people into thinking this is a masterpiece when it comes to horror flicks.
The movie is about a group of aliens making crop circles around a farmer's cornfield. Later in the film, we find out that these aliens, who so far are behaving like pranksters from outer space, are planning to invade Earth. Apparently making crop circles is their idea of warning people that an attack is coming. Imagine American troops tracing crop circles around Iraqi farms, and you get the picture.
One of Signs' scariest moments takes place when a group of kids at a birthday party see an alien walking down the street. The shocking footage is filmed by someone at the birthday party. Horrifying indeed. But if you use a little logic, you immediately realize that the alien is walking around naked and without weapons. So they are planning to invade Earth naked and weaponless? Suddenly bigfoot seems a little scarier, and the aliens in Independence Day, who were dumb enough to not know about antivirus software, seem a lot smarter.
Spoilers ahead, and I mean real spoilers:
Eventually the invasion begins. This is the point where an alien breaks into Mel Gibson's farm. Yes, attacking farms is an alien's idea of a planetary war; it seems the aliens are in desperate need of corn. But Mel Gibson and his family are going to fight back. They get in the cellar and lock the door. Apparently these aliens can travel faster than light, but they don't have firearms, and they are afraid of locked, wooden doors.
Then, early in the morning, the alien seems to be gone. It seems the alien is afraid of sunlight. When the family, who has been through one hell of an ordeal, turns on the television, they realize that not just one but all of the aliens are gone. Why? Because humans discovered that water can harm them. Yes, water can harm them. Yet they were stupid enough to walk around naked. Imagine a group of nudists hanging around a lava-marinated volcanic eruption, and you get the logic of this.
The scariest thing about Signs is the fact that not even movie critics saw all the holes it has.