Shyamalan's third movie is an alien movie that takes us in a totally different direction than we would normally expect.

Rating: 10/10 (23 April 2005)

Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix Shyamalan's third movie, Signs, is probably my favorite of the three that I have seen. I like them all a lot, but this one is just a cut above the rest in my opinion. In the same way that Sixth Sense is the horror movie that isn't and Unbreakable is the super hero movie that isn't, Signs is the alien movie that isn't.
Early in the movie, Graham Hess (Gibson) find something unusual in his fields. Crop circles. Is it a hoax? Is it a practical joke by somebody in the town? What made the circles? Graham's children, Bo and Morgan both believe right away that they were made by something not human, but Graham and his brother Merrill (Phoenix) have their doubts. Crop circles? It has to be a hoax, right? Then other things start happening. The dogs start acting strangely. Bo comes to Graham in the middle of the night and claims that there is a monster outside of her room. Graham and Merrill go outside to scare the intruder off. They chase him around the house, but when they meet on the other side, the intruder is on the roof. How? Then more odd things happen. Graham finds someone, or something, walking around in his cornfield. Alien signals get picked up through baby monitors. Lights are floating in the sky all across the world. Eventually Graham and Merrill drop their doubt and admit that there are aliens out there.
The movie has a very claustrophobic atmosphere. Most of the movie takes place on the Hess farm. But it works. In the cramped atmosphere, we feel just as trapped as the Hess family. Shrouded in confusion and fear, unsure of what exactly is going to happen.
I won't tell you how they get rid of the aliens, but it is hardly in a conventional manner. This movie sharply contrasts movies like Independence Day where aliens come in big spaceships with big guns to blow up the world. Instead they come with ground troops and strategy.
This movie is well acted and cleverly written, and it is one of my favorite movies.
Bottom Line: 4 out of 4 (own this movie)