You have to ask yourself

Rating: Null/10 (9 August 2002)

About halfway through M. Night Shyamalan's 'Signs,' Mel Gibson's character tries to console his younger brother (Joaquin Phoenix) by posing this question: Is he the type of person who sees the signs and believes them to be divine, or is he the type who simply writes them off as coincidence? Mel then raises the stakes a bit by qualifying that the former type will be comforted in knowing that they are not alone, that God is with them regardless of how things turn out. The latter, however, do not have that comfort, and will live their lives knowing that they are alone. While Mel's farmer-under-attack probably won't be getting any job offers from Hallmark any time soon, his statements form the core of the film, and ultimately will determine how you the viewer feel when the credits roll.
If you are the type of person who plans on going into 'Signs' waiting for this year's greatest suprise ending, then you'll definately get it. Suprise! There's not one. What Shyamalan has created is a superb rural science-fiction picture that works terrifically as a summer popcorn thriller, and as arthouse-type discussion fodder. He gives you a lot of thrills for your buck, and the atmosphere is genuinely creepy throughout. The camera direction is extremely tight, hiding the evils that may (or may not) be lurking just beyond the visibility of the actors and the audience. It's almost as if the viewers are wearing blinders, forcing them to look only where the director wants them to. Much like and escalating roller-coaster, we know we're about to take a huge plunge but we still can't see anything but the top of the hill.

Interestingly, Shyamalan turns the "big question" on his own audience. It is either truly brilliant or totally egotistical (probably both) to actually guilt-trip your audience into liking your film. If you are the type of person who believes what you are shown as intentional displays of the higher power (the film director as God), then you will be rewarded with an enjoyable film experience. If you choose to disregard the director's intent, and pass pieces of the film off as coincidence or, more "blasphemously," as poor sci-fi filmmaking, then you are like the film's hopeless characters, lost and alone. Most importantly, as you walk away from 'Signs,'ask yourself how many times in the last hour-and-a-half you had to squeeze your date's arm just a little harder for comfort. This should be the true sign that you have been in a master's hands.