Great suspense marred by preachy overtones and awful finale

Rating: Null/10 (12 November 2002)

Shyamalan please don't preach at me! - That's one of the first things that I think of when I reflect on `Signs'. I hate preachy movies.
`Signs' is a good flick. In the year of 2002 when a good flick is virtually non existent, it was a nice and welcoming relief. It's the story of an ex-preacher, Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), who lives out in the cornfields with his son and daughter, grieving over his dead wife. Suddenly crop circles begin to appear in his corn and strange goings on happen. It's a `sign' of stuff happening. But what is happening? What are the crop circles appearing everywhere indicating? Is it some other worldly force? And can Hess pull himself out of his despair and fight them? Hmmm.. Well - can he?!
Acting here is all solid. Gibson isn't called to stretch himself - look angry here, look sad there, shoulder a burden of grief, question his faith, and so on. He's still well cast in his role though and never really lets the side down. The two kids are quite good. One is the Cute Girl #3 act going for, but we can expect that. It's Hollywood. Rory Culkin, as the young son Morgan, is actually one of the best surprises of the movie. He has a remarkable maturity to his acting, and is very believable as a quiet, introverted son. Hope he gets more work for himself, unlike his brother. Speaking of brothers, Joaquin Pheonix plays Gibson's brother, Merrill. He's there to provide the more light-hearted elements later on, but also as a foil to Gibson's taciturn nature. Pheonix is good, but not remarkable, failing to get into the role the way he could in, for example, `Gladiator'.
Script wise? Well there's not much of one. It's `Close Encounters of the Third Kind' meets `Night of the Living Dead'. There is some ham fisted dialogue, principally when Shyamalan (writer and director here) gets all preachy and tries to teach us A Big Lesson. It's mostly when Gibson starts moralising and pondering aloud in the tired old `why me? Why this?' routine. The moments aren't quite too far and few between to be erased from my memory and it does detract from the enjoyment at time. I can watch a movie without being talked down to. Oh and that little bit with Pheonix's character? Too heavily fore-shadowed and sign posted. Subtlety is lacking in this script.
That subtlety is lacking in the script is strange because it's certainly not lacking in the directing. It's what makes `Signs' move from an average movie to a sharp little thriller. Shyamalan uses a nice slow build up, that's ever increasing the paranoia and the tension. Wisely he eschews ever taking the camera much further than the farm land, creating a sense of isolation to the viewer. The jumps are not obviously sign posted, and dramatical music cues are minimalist to score maximum effect. The camera work is tight and focused, building up the eerie tension, and the lighting is spot on, with just the right level of creeping darkness. The sound work - sharp, crisp - is also very good. I don't think I've ever jumped so much at a cinema screening and it's a credit to the movie that it made me do that. It's only let down at the end with the weak ending and incredulous plot device. Still fair dues to Shyamalan for using his director's chair well.
`Signs' is one of the best movies of 2002. Now that's not saying a whole lot as there's been little good (I'm pinning all my hopes on `The Two Towers') but this is certainly a movie worth seeing with the lights turned down. It can't be a classic due to some hammy writing on Shayamalan's part, and its obvious roots, but it's a very effective little thriller (in the scare sense) and worth your time. 8.0/10.