Did I say I highly recommend this film? Well if I didn't, I meant to.

Rating: Null/10 (6 August 2002)

SIGNS
Witnessing the progression of films by M. Night Shyamalan is like following the years of refinement that Japanese-made cars go through. M. Night is on a steady pace towards perfecting his craft. As with the convention of the Eastern world, M. Night is not interested in making visionary work. While The Sixth Sense is considered M. Night's breakthrough film, Unbreakable was questionably superior in depth, range and complexity. Signs might not diversify M. Night's thriller/horror repertoire that has become his bread and butter arsenal, but it certainly makes his existing arsenal more authoritative. The picture perfect screenplay functions on a successful yet basic scheme: lighten the hearts of the audience with humor and the security of a small town farm family, then terrify the life out of them with strategically placed everyday occurrences, such as dogs barking, objects falling, etc. In this fashion the real apocalyptic horror remains a mystery while the audience waits with laughter in their mouths, hearts in their throats. This film is so well done it wouldn't be absurd to presume that the same audience that enjoyed this film on it's opening weekend would sit through three more suspenseful hours just to get another glimpse of the shadowy intruder's hand.
I expected to see Bruce Willis in Signs. But I speculate that he turned down the role of Father Graham Hess and responded with something like: I already made this film, twice. (Just for the record I'm not saying he was offered the role.) Playing father on two different levels, Mel Gibson shines in what will be his greatest performance in quite a few years- a family guy role. Joaquin Phoenix plays Graham's brother Merrill, reflecting the screenplay by acting at times humorous and strange, at other times deadly serious. Rounding out the Bucks County Pennsylvania family are two overtly bright children (A sure sign of a M. Night Shyamalan flick.) who end up parenting the grownups. Thankfully this film doesn't rely as heavily on audience expectations as did The Sixth Sense. From the trailers we know that Signs involves some extra terrestrial beings- I'm not spoiling anything here. This story, in Shyamalan fashion, fits together like a magnetic Jenga tower. I wouldn't be spoiling your experience if I told you about Father Graham's flashbacks of his wife's death, or if I mentioned his daughter's habit of leaving half empty (Half full?) glasses of water around the house; I would be giving nothing away by telling you that Marrill used to be a slugger baseball player in his younger years. Signs is not like The Sixth Sense in this way. Mel Gibson's character is not already dead; thus the story remains exciting and provocative with subsequent viewing.
It doesn't bother me that M. Night is sticking to his guns, enhancing his stockpile. He's doing personal work that has become very successful and lucrative; no artist could ask for anything more. Furthermore it doesn't bother me that M. Night is shamelessly borrowing from film making legends such as Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg. The fact is that most directors are influenced just the same, the difference is that other directors tend to obscure such influence. Signs' opening credits features a classic Bernard Herrmann style score that is reminiscent of Hitchcock's Psycho. Also like Hitchcock, M. Night fancies the idea of making guest appearances in his own pictures. As for the Spielberg influence, I merely need to mention Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. and formulaic themes such as broken home and the black and white simplification of good versus evil.
Did I say I highly recommend this film? Well if I didn't, I meant to. M. Night Shyamalan is a four star director within the sci-fi/fantasy/family thriller genre; Signs comes within a few rows of corn to being a four star movie. What remains to be proven by this director is a diversification of genre and a willingness to explore unfamiliar territory as have legends such as Hitchcock, Welles, Kubrick, and Spielberg. Of course there is absolutely nothing wrong with maintaining a career that will put you in company with the likes of heavy hitting specialists John Ford, Martin Scorsese, and Woody Allen.