Hold on to your seat, this is going to be quite a ride.

Rating: 9/10 (21 March 2005)

"Signs" is an intense film that grabs you at the very beginning with an insight into a world beyond what any audience believes is the only possible world. M. Knight Shyamalan has set out to intrigue the viewer with his display of alien crop circles and their possible use for navigational purposes. This idea seems to be based solely on Shyamalan's perceived knowledge of life beyond this realm. Shyamalan sets the mood of the film during the opening credits with the type of eerie music that you might find in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. The music is continued throughout the film and lets the audience know to hold on to their seats, this is going to be quite a ride.
The movie "Signs" stars Mel Gibson as Father Graham Hess who lives with his family on a remote farm in Bucks County, PA. This closely-knit family consists of two children Morgan and Bo (Rory Culkin, and Abigail Breslin) and Father Hess's brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix). The children's mother died six months earlier in a car accident and Merrill moved to the farm shortly after her death to help his grieving brother and his family. "Signs" shows that even a religious person can suffer the loss of faith when life's direction is challenged by a higher power.
The first half of the film focuses on the children who seem to have more insight into things beyond what the adults can comprehend or will even allow themselves to believe. Short of a miracle, the world seems doomed. News reports from all of the news agencies were appearing on the Hess family's television. The reports were plastered with the same images from around the world. When asked what was on television, Breslin answers in an eerie monotone voice, "it's the same on every station". Eventually the television was hidden from the children in a closet and only Phoenix was viewing these reports. Shyamalan uses these newscasts as their only link to the outside world. The everyday life on the farm is filled with signs. The half-filled water glasses that Breslin leaves around the house even has a purpose in this film. We can see daily how the family grows closer. Shyamalan accomplishes this in the film as the family gathers around the television to watch these reports. The family who started out on opposite ends of the farm at the beginning of the film are now huddling together in fear of the signs around them.
Gibson's character struggles with his need to regain his faith in God and his own ability to help his family to get through this terrible situation. Something appears to be watching them. Is it God or something else? The signs are all there. Shyamalan allows us to catch glimpses of the aliens in the fields and on the roof top. The film seems to carry out its sign motif even further with delightful ornate woodcarvings and images in every scene in the film.
The entire film seems to come together because everyone all over the world is seeking answers to God's purpose for this alien invasion. The conclusion is that they will have to seek out God themselves for the answers. The family that has been isolated from the outside world draws strength from the Gibson character. In the end of the film, Gibson's faith returns and the overall knowledge that the world as well as their home is once again saved by God's endearing love.
The work of Shyamalan in a more recent film shows a group of citizens of a small town in "The Village" who are struggling with their own beliefs of the outside world and what is happening beyond the walls that were protecting them. Both "Signs" and "The Village" explore the possibility of the world having forgotten them and how the characters in both are left to fend for themselves.
The fact that "Signs" is an awesome thriller is well known to those of us who viewed the film at its opening in 2002 and are still on the edge of our seats as we watch it again today on DVD. This is truly a film that will open your eyes to the possibilities of another realm and what might be possible beyond this world. The questioning of anyone's faith will certainly be a hot topic of discussion after viewing Signs. Watch this film with someone who appreciates a good thriller, it will be a fun and fantastic film to talk about long after the film ends and the popcorn has disappeared.