Mediocre science fiction movie, good suspense movie, great family drama

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2002)

You've seen the previews so you know the setup: Mel Gibson defends his family farm from the occupying British soldiers. No wait, that was The Patriot. Aliens -- it's aliens this time.
That's part of the movie's point -- it's not really *about* an alien invasion. "The aliens were a Macguffin," my wife pronounced as we left the theater. Like he did in Unbreakable and Sixth Sense, MNS uses the supernatural as an occasion to examine the human condition.

One of the early shots in the farmhouse shows a blank spot on the wall where a crucifix once was. Hess (Gibson's character) is an ex-minister who has suffered tragedy in his family and turned his back on God. The appearance of crop circles in his backyard, the signs of the coming alien invasion -- they're occasions for Hess to ask himself, "does everything happen for a reason?" Anyone who's had someone close to them die has asked the same question. They've probably also had people tell them that everything, including death, does happen for a reason. That gives some people comfort, and makes other people angry. Hess is angry at God. ("I hate you!" he yells at one point when another family member's life is threatened, and it's clear Whom he's addressing). While the Test of Faith movie has been made many times, Signs is about Hess's Test of Faithlessness.
(Incidentally, we saw this right after renting "Serendipity", which asks the same question in romantic-comedy mode. Coincidence? I don't think so....)
The acting, by the way, is great. There are a couple of moments where Gibson breaks out of the strong-silent-suffering mask -- one where he confronts MNS's character, another at a family dinner -- that are really powerful. Cherry Jones deserves a Two Minute Oscar for her role as the local cop. And the kids are really quite good. (Abigail Breslin as the daughter reminded me of Drew Barrymore in ET and Heather O'Rourke in Poltergeist.)
Don't go into this movie expecting Independence Day. Or even expecting The Sixth Sense. (Everyone seems to expect that all of MNS's movies will now have a Big Twist at the end). It's a mediocre science fiction movie, a good suspense movie, and a great family drama.