Well done movie, BUT...

Rating: Null/10 (16 August 2002)

The inspired directing, underplayed acting, atmospheric cinematography, and just about everything are well above typical Hollywood fare for Signs. So many things are good about Signs that it is difficult to bring myself to write this commentary, but I feel I must.
The director keeps the 'monsters' off-screen, as many sensible directors do, until the very end. It is unfortunate that, in the last few minutes we discover the aliens are the stupidest extraterrestrials villains since "Morons from Outer Space".
One might account for some behavior being part of their alien nature. They sneak around, yet leave huge markings as evidence of their presence. They have 'invisibility screens' yet hover directly over cities (where birds hit them) and they are sometimes seen. They are from an advanced race yet can't figure out doorknobs, carry no defenses or weaponry. They are close enough that the poison their 'stingers' give off is toxic to us, yet they are burned by water.
That's right, they came down, weaponless, naked, to a planet covered 75% by water, and started kidnapping people (for unknown reasons) and are surprised that they are beaten back by kids with super-soakers. It's lucky the aliens didn't get caught by the sprinklers while making crop circles. And the first place they notice the aliens can be burned by water is in the Middle East, the farthest place from natural water sources in the world. Ironic, huh?
An even worse 'blind spot' in their natural evolutionary defenses is that they are also hypnotized by the swinging of lumber. The one alien we see clearly stands still to be pummelled unmercifully by a baseball bat.
After all the fine work that went into making the atmosphere, acting, and other aspects of the film so excellent, couldn't they have spared 2 I.Q. points for the aliens? It ended like the worst Super-Friends episode ever.