Believe that Good Movies Can Be Release in the Summer!!

Rating: 10/10 (23 August 2002)

After a string of failures at the box office for Disney like Bad Company, Reign of Fire, and The Country Bears, Disney is hoping this will be a sign of better things to come. M. Night Shyamalan has been described as the next Spielberg after the surprising success of The Sixth Sense in 1999 and the cult following of the 2000 film, Unbreakable. Now that he has conquered ghosts and superheroes, he now goes after aliens. Will Signs bring back the same success or better of The Sixth Sense, which debuted in the same weekend in 1999, or will it show the decline of the director's success?
The story goes that a man by the name of Graham Hess, a former minister, has lost his faith after the death of his wife in a car accident. He soon finds that crop circles have appeared in his corn fields but dismisses them as pranks and nothing more. But soon the news from around the world shows the lights from alien space crafts and everything that we had feared about life from other worlds is coming true. An invasion by the life forms looks to happen and now Graham must find the faith within him which is the only way to save his family. The story, which was written by M. Night Shyamalan himself, is nothing but pure majesty. The plot mixes humor in well needed places and for the first time this year, I was scared more during a movie then I had ever been before. And I loved every moment of it. The story doesn't seem long or too short which is a great rarity among the modern feature-length films.
Mel Gibson, who has starred in many great successful films like Braveheart, What Women Want and the Lethal Weapon series, is sure to have another huge hit with Signs. Gibson plays the role of Graham Hess down pat. He plays with so much emotion especially with the scene involving the last supper the family shares together before the alien invasion happens. The tears just stream from his eyes which made the scene just so perfect. The kids in the film were amazingly good. Some cute children will ruin a film but these kids played their roles perfectly making us laugh, cry and scared. Joaquin Phoenix has another great role after the success of Gladiator. You just cheer for him at the very end of the film, which I will not give away in this review. M. Night Shyamalan, who made a cameo appearance in The Sixth Sense, plays a much larger role in Signs and shows that his genius goes beyond directing and writing.
Overall, Signs spells another huge success for director M. Night Shyamalan and actor Mel Gibson. This is the best movie I have seen in 2002 and one of the best films ever made. The scariness and the emotions go way beyond that of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. The music was perfectly scored by James Newton Howard who also scored The Sixth Sense, Dinosaur, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The opening credit music set us up for the greatness to come and made the credits very interesting to listen to. There are so many things to love about this film that any problems seem ridiculous. Though the ending to the film, which I will not give away, was a bit cheesy but that is what Shyamalan intended. The Sixth Sense delivered a surprise ending but Signs gives you what you should have expected but dismissed it for some surprise ending. The movie is meant to make you think as a movie goer and it does that with excellent flare and style. Signs is sure to remain the top film of the year despite heavy competition from Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers later this year. Make sure you make it your duty to see this film. It would be a crime to miss it. You never know when life from other worlds may visit. You would like to be prepares, right? ;)
My Rating: ***** out of 5 (A Perfect Score)