There's a great story in here, its just not told very well

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2003)

I really wanted to enjoy Signs. The trailer was captivating, the plot sounded full of possibilities. Mel Gibson is a tremendous actor and Shymalian had shown great promise as a director with the enjoyable albeit totally predictable Sixth Sense. But, just over 100 minutes after the film started, as the end credits were running, I asked myself what went wrong. I was soooo disappointed....
The opening and end credits were abysmal; dreadful use of fonts, awful layout, and no audience involvement whatsoever. Some of the first half hour was excellent, but I'd seen most of it in the trailer for the film. But then it started going downhill when (SPOILER ALERT!!!) the alien invasion storyline came into play. We've seen it all before, and in much better and more engaging circumstances.
Okay, Signs is not about aliens and invasions etc, its the story of one man's restoration of faith in a God who he felt had betrayed him. But its completely the wrong canvas on which to paint this picture.
Mel Gibson acts like a tree in Signs - more wooden than those Russian dolls you can pick up down your local gift boutique. Rory Culkin is okay, the actress playing his sister (sorry, forgotten her name) is the best thing about Signs, and Joaquin Phoenix could have been just about anybody. The alien creature is total crapola, and not worth the 90 minute wait to see.

There could have been a great film in Signs, it has all the pieces to construct an exciting jigsaw, but Shymalian doesn't know how to put those pieces together. A shame, and a wasted opportunity.
2 out of 10