Overhyped mediocre movie -- insult to viewers' intelligence

Rating: 4/10 (17 November 2002)

Signs turns out to be a big disappointment to me. As a sci-fi alien invasion movie, it's full of clichés and plot holes. Even the religion/faith theme is weak and unconvincing; basically Hess lost his faith when his wife died in a freak accident and regained it when his son lived due to a freakish sequence. All the atmospheric, flowery shots by the director cannot hide the turns of events are forced and simplistic. A much more powerful way would be he regains this faith YET his son DIED; something obviously the director/writer had no stomach for it as he went for the Hollywood style redemption.
The biggest disappointment is the alien. *****Spoiler Ahead*****
These aliens were supposed to be smart, fast and with technology light-years ahead of us. Instead, we were asked to believe some plastic-skin zombie possessing little intelligence, little athletic ability, nothing but primitive poison gas as weapon, not to mention problems with water and wood, to be THE MENACE. The whole "Merrill swing away" sequence is simply ridiculous and outrageous -- an insult to everyone's intelligence.