It's not anything to do with aliens...

Rating: 9/10 (25 March 2006)

and everything to do with belief and fear.
M. Night Shyamalan is a genius. He can write, direct and guide a film better than anyone living or dead. While Steven Spielberg is his equal as director, he cannot write as well.
This film is so perfect, so finely-tuned, crafted and sewn together, it will accompany you around for days to come.
It doesn't matter the theme is "aliens invading Earth," as that has nothing to do with the film. It could have been "KKK burning a black family's home" or "Nazis killing Jews." This film, in its entirety, is about the experience of being human. That it's juxtaposed against aliens just makes it more interesting. Two disparate species who want the same thing: to survive.
What makes this film so important is the dialogue. The script is tight, each weft and warp - each thread - pulled tightly into the weave of the whole. Each word is polished and trenchant. There is not a single wasted or unnecessary sentence. Even the unexpected humor belonged right *there*. For that, Shamalayan deserved recognition. I have no idea why "Signs" wasn't nominated for any of the Oscars. Three of the five nominated films bored me silly, while "Signs" kept me riveted in my seat. If that's not the mark of a great film, then I don't understand the medium.
Brilliant director, brilliant screenplay and film and brilliant cast. Mel Gibson has had a 50/50 success rate with his roles, but this one of a man struggling with the destruction of his faith, is on the uptick side of his performances.
Joaquin Phoenix is riveting, absolutely riveting, as a lost man clinging to the broken shards of a past neither brilliant nor terrible, but somewhere in a destructive in-between.
The children are eerily un-childlike, yet as vulnerable and tender as only children can be. How Shyamalan wrung such performances out of Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin, I've no idea, but I was mesmerized.
I hope the members of AMPAS wake up and realize what a treasure we have in M. Night Shyamalan. I don't want to see - 30 years hence - a "lifetime achievement award" for a man overlooked during his distinguished career.
Last comment: Shyalmalan's performance as Ray Reddy was superb. He was important, yet unobtrusive, in the life of the script. That all actors can be so powerful and yet restrained. I saw the Reddy character as the true alien of the film... of this Earth and yet condemned to hell for his actions.