Entertaining But Flawed

Rating: 5/10 (25 April 2006)

Signs is watchable and entertaining, but has quite a few plot holes to the point of being cheesy. If the intent of the movie was to simply be a fun "popcorn movie" diversion, it succeeds on that level. It appears, though, the intent was to approach philosophical insights, or to convince the audience of the authenticity of crop circles as alien-authored. On such issues, it self-destructs.
The main problem with the film seems to be this schizophrenic confusion about which direction it wants to go, thus dooming it to fail on the serious side of the ledger. There's plenty of involving action with "things that go bump in the night," but the story forgets to pursue the deep issues it brought up. The story careens madly back and forth between serious overtones and sublimely ridiculous nonsense.
For example, there is a scene of an auto accident victim talking to someone: A dying person who has been chopped in half does not wax prophetic--they scream in pain, or lose consciousness. Due to the odd premise of a mutilated person standing there to give a message, this scene, which apparently seeks extreme pathos, simply ends up looking like cheap, contrived exploitation. The scene with the baby-monitor intercepting transmissions from beyond Earth? Must be a joke, right? But if this was supposed to be a joke, it was played too straight to be recognizable as one. In places, therefore, the movie takes itself way too seriously.
More inanities: The stupidity of the aliens, who have mastered interplanetary travel, but are ignorant to a toxic aspect of our environment? Plot holes this preposterous should not be escaping the eyes of directors of big budget flicks. Also, why are they leaving messages in cornfields for everyone to see, if they're plotting a raid on the planet? Why don't they just radio each other as they coordinate their attack? Oops, forgot: We have baby-monitors to spy on them with; consequently, they are limited to hacking up cornfields in order to communicate. The baseball bat silliness was almost too foolish to endure.
Still, the movie has its moments. I particularly love the scene with the aluminum foil hats. The plot, albeit silly, moves along. Plenty of stuff happens up there on the screen, and you can suspend disbelief enough to have a good time. The acting is actually quite good, especially Mel Gibson, who breaks from his "Mad Max" persona. Here he plays a despondent man struggling through an emotional crisis, and he plays this vulnerable character with sincerity.
For some mindless fun, this film provides with gusto. Just don't expect this movie to be a convincing argument about the supernatural. It has far too many obvious goofs in its execution to accomplish that.