Shyamalan Still Falters Due to Trickery.

Rating: Null/10 (27 November 2002)

Another M. Night Shyamalan film that tries to dazzle and then surprise you at the end. The routine still works to an extent, but overall Shyamalan is still living off his enormous success with "The Sixth Sense". Former religious man Mel Gibson, his wise-cracking younger brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and Gibson's two young children seem to have a relatively peaceful and uneventful lives in Pennsylvania. Peaceful that is until crop circles start appearing and animals start behaving strangely. It must just be something local, right? Wrong. It appears that similar situations are occurring all over the world. What could all this mean? "Signs" is one of those films that tells its audience way too much way too fast. The suspense that is built up early on is eliminated too quickly as Shyamalan cannot keep the rabbit in the hat long enough this time. The same problems that plagued "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" are still prevalent, but a little more pronounced in this one. Overall the film is still pretty good, mainly due to Gibson's screen persona and Phoenix's comic relief. Shyamalan has an important cameo appearance as a doctor with a secret. 4 stars out of 5.