"Signs"- Perhaps the last truly great film from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan.

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2016)

M. Nighy Shyamalan is one of the strangest figments to emerge in Hollywood the past twenty years. After a few obscure low-budget features, in 1999 he struck gold with the incredible and heartfelt thriller "The Sixth Sense." Audiences and critics alike were wowed by his unique vision of terror and emotion. With a newfound fame, Shyamalan continued this streak with the underrated drama "Unbreakable"- a subversive and genre- bending take on the superhero origin story, boasting strong performances and some truly gut- wrenching sequences. And then he struck gold once again with this film, his third- "Signs", yet another critical and commercial darling that takes on the alien invasion tale with his unique voice.
Then, tragedy struck. His next few films, "The Village", "Lady in the Water" and "The Happening" suffered increasingly diminishing returns in terms of their critical and audience reaction as people began to wise up to his style and form of storytelling. By the time he got to "The Last Airbender" and "After Earth", the good-will his first three major releases earned him was all but completely gone.
Thankfully, he's had a bit of a rebound the past few years. His television series "Wayward Pines" and his found-footage horror/comedy "The Visit" received generally positive critical reception and were moderate hits with their audiences. And his next feature "Split" looks to continue this trend with trailers promising a spooky and amusing romp about a killer with a split personality.
But let's take a look at "Signs", a film that on the whole, seems to at this time be his last great film. The last movie that really delivered 100% on his promising beginning. And a film that I still greatly appreciate and feel is among the finest Sci-Fi thrillers in quite some time.
The tale is a surprisingly intimate one, following a a former priest named Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) who lost his faith after the tragic death of his wife. When crop-circles appear in his field, and then begin to appear soon after at an alarming rate all over the world, it appears that humanity may soon be at risk from an extra- terrestrial invasion. Together with his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) and children (Abigail Breslin, Rory Culkin), Graham must find a way to protect his family from this very real threat, all while combating his own inner turmoil surrounding his lost faith.
What makes the film work is just how subdued, methodical and realistic a portrait Shyamalan paints. Whereas most alien-invasion thrillers aim to build scope of spectacle and wow audiences with worldwide destruction, Shyamalan wisely instead places his focus on a singular family unit, and builds the scope and spectacle from their emotional journey of intrigue, fear and survival. He knows that no matter how many buildings explode or how many gooey CGI aliens he could throw at the screen, none of it matters if we don't have characters to root for. So, he eschews essentially every single clichÃ© and convention of sci-fi thrillers to instead craft a really interesting and emotional drama.
The performances are also of a magnificent quality. While he's become something of a laughing stock in recent years (and deservedly so) due to his... "eccentricities", Mel Gibson shines as a man haunted by his past an unsure of his future. It's one of those films that shows just why we loved Gibson so much. And how badly it hurt when it was revealed just how corrupt and nasty a man he was. Joaquin Phoenix is a lot of fun as Graham's younger and more boisterous brother. And Breslin and Culkin give good, fascinating takes on their unique child characters. (Though admittedly Breslin isn't the world's greatest child-actor in this role.)
Shyamalan is at the top of his game here with his writing and visual storytelling. Dialog strikes a fine balance between realism and that delightfully disconnected "Shyamalan tone", which lends itself well to the otherworldly themes. The story is perfectly structured to compliment the themes of invasion, lost faith and the support of family meaning everything. And the writing also exquisitely builds tension with an expert tone that builds through every scene. And his camera- work and use of clever visual motifs have never been better.
It really is a tragedy that this might be the last great Shyamalan film. While I did adore "The Visit" and enjoy "Wayward Pines", he's still got a bit of an uphill battle to fight if he's ever to earn back all of the respect and admiration he held just a few short years ago.
But I hope he wins that battle, because the world needs at least one more Shyamalan masterpiece like this.
"Signs" is a perfect 10.