"Signs" good idea, presented in nearly exploitive manner

Rating: Null/10 (19 August 2002)

To start off, The Sixth Sense was not the grand experience for me
that it was for others, mainly because I figured out the twist five
minutes into the movie. However, Unbreakable was the work of a director with potential,as
the latter film only needed some humor to lighten up the mood at
times to be really excellent. Signs,though it looked interesting and I wanted to see it, was not
only extremely manipulating but one of the goofiest films I have
seen in quite a while.I cannot recall the last time I made so many
jokes about a film (never), it was predictable, ripped off several
other science fiction films, and was unable to even stick to it's
message about losing faith and etc. Basically, it was a particularly bad movie. Now, for those who have
seen it or have no desire to see it but want to know plot spoilers
anyway, read on.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
1. Graham's faith is restored in a series of coincidences and
signs that he sees.However, the idea of faith is that when you go
looking for signs of a higher being, you are losing faith because
you are questioning the presence of such a being and trying to find
proof that they even exist. There is even a scene in Signs where Grahams says there are
two kinds of people, those who believe in miracles and those who
believe in plain luck. But Graham's faith is restored by the latter,
not his trusting that someone will get them through the invasion.
Doesn't that defeat the whole point of the story? 2. The alien story is not only a complete rip-off of War of the Worlds
( in that case, the "weakness" of the aliens is a virus that kills them
all) but several other science fiction stories, especially the much
better film Alien Nation. In Alien Nation, not only is water like sulfuric acid to the aliens,
their language is almost exactly the same manner of clicks and
assorted noises the aliens make in Signs. Alien Nation even uses the aliens to confront a part of humanity
(dealing with prejudice and hatred of those different from us in
some way) but in a much better and effective way than Signs. 3. Signs is an extremely manipulating film. It has everything
terrible happening to the Graham family ( " your wife's dead, both
of your dogs are dead, you son could die") I was almost waiting for
a insurance agent to come walking in after the aliens leave and
tell them that their insurance doesn't cover alien damage and they
will have to forclose the house ( like I said, this movie was made
to be poked at). 4. Did you catch that little homage to E.T.? The scene where they
chase the alien off their property and you see the swing swinging
wildly, the crops rustling as the alien runs off? ( Copycat of the
scene in E.T. where Elliot scares E.T. off) Sorry. This guys has a ways to go before he's the next Spielberg,
despite what anyone says.
Rating: 3 out of 10