A sci-fi thriller... I think

Rating: 7/10 (10 August 2002)

I voted a six for this movie for a reason. It's been two days since I have seen it yet I am still not sure what my exact opinion is. It's not a bad movie, don't get me wrong, but I haven't decided whether it's a great movie. It certainly doesn't deserve to be ranked #176 of 250, as it currently is.
Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, and Rory Culkin are all incredible in the film. The young Abigail Breslin is fine but a little too quiet for the movie.

As has come to be public knowledge of M. Night Shyamalan, sound plays an extraordinary role in this film. The sound from the baby monitor, the haunting hiss/click noises from the supernatural beings, and the whirring wind and shaking corn husks that make you feel a cool breeze as Gibson rushes through a corn field. Even silence is a major character in the movie.
The only reservation that I have for Signs is the ill-timed, often inappropriate humor that Shyamalan feels the need to inject just as the tension is building to a break. The "quirky" if not sometimes "stupid" humor that is sandwiched in with the startle scares often times takes away from the thriller genre this movie should be trying harder to achieve.

I could not give a decisive thumbs up or thumbs down to this movie. I say go see it and decide for yourself if this is the way you want your sci-fi, horror, thriller movies to proceed.
If you disagree send me an e-mail. It's right up there ^.