simple but good

Rating: 8/10 (25 July 2002)

I was actually surprised by the movies' courage for clichÃ©s and quotations. I was expecting something new somehow but "sings" ist "just" a tribute to all those old 50s alien invasion b-movies. And it's NOT about the struggle of Hess' spiritual life. Maybe Shyamalan wanted the movie to be about that but in that point he failed. I even thought that the backflashes (*spoiler*: to his wife's accident) where useless, disturbed the rhythm and were the weakest part of the script in general.
And don't expect that the secret (like the trailer promised) of the crop circles is going to revealed. The movie just gives a stupid theory (which is completely unbelievable and just a guess...). The crop-circles however aren't even the "signs" which refer to the title. That was just a fake. Shyamalan actually means "spiritual signs" (e.g. coincidences which just cannot be coincidence...) but the "sings" he uses in this movie are not convincing and therefore the (spoiler warning!!!) change from faithless ex-father to faithful Reverend isn't convincing either. I even was a little annoyed by it since I count myself to the "first kind of people" and I am not really filled with fear...
Anyway. The suspense is great. Shyamalan uses his now well-known style of "simplicity". You often hear more than you see. And that works perfectly. It shows that you don't need big special effect to create suspense.
The story is weak, has some really really deep plotholes but it carries the character through it. Mostly because of the actors (especially the little ones) who give a nice performance.
I found "sings" entertaining and thrilling. The subplot (for me is the subplot the spiritual search of Hess and not vice versa!) was a very good idea but it would have been better to raise another question: do you fall back into praying and believing when you life gets threaten and you think the world could end? Is that true faith? But the movie avoids those question. You can see from the very beginning that Shyamalan is a person who believes in miracles.
Overall: far better than most of the summer-block-busters. And even better than Panic Room (comparing the thrill-factor). And for sure the best X-Files episode ever. (:
I would gave it: 7 or 8 out of 10