Signs say Box Office Ahead

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2002)

Somewhere within Signs I picked up the scent of contempt for the
American film goer. The director seems so self -assured in his
desire to tap into the hearts of the viewing public, which translates,
of course into splendiferous box office returns, that he creates a bit
of a camel. I admit, i am a huge fan of Field of Dreams and Night of the Living
Dead as for that matter War of the Worlds, Creature from the Black
Lagoon, Independence Day, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
and all other other cinematic ingredients that went into the mix,
(homage, ripoff )of this particular cinematic camel soup. I liked all
of those movies better. They struck me as more honest.
About the best compliment i can come up with for Signs is that it
serves as the post 9/11 version of Field of Dreams. In the late
eighties a spirit of hope, perhaps false resonated within the
country. In 2002 a feeling of anxiety lingers. Who knows the next
time that we will all become transfixed in national communion
upon our teevee screens like we were 9/11,like the characters in
Signs are transfixed by their teevees throughout the film.
Certainly, the hypnotic power of televised catastrophe is a prime
time concept in Signs.
The major theme of course is redemption and faith. I have no
problem with either of those concepts, if I did I wouldn't be
compulsively listening to the new Springsteen CD, the Rising.
For the second straight movie (We Were Soldiers Once being the
first), I was distracted by the cumbersome, nearly lurching
performance of Mel Gibson. Every time I looked at Mel in Signs, I
got the feeling that Mel was very aware of the camera looking at
him and "acting" for that camera. That's always a bad sign.
Early box office returns seem to indicate that Night was right. The
public apparently is buying Signs. I did mainly because of my
admiration for the Sixth Sense as well as my interest in crop
circles, cattle disembowelments and black helicopters etc.
I have the feeling that the next camel that Night creates will be less
valid and authentic than Signs which is clearly less valid and
authentic than Sixth Sense. I'm also afraid that as the director's
artistic integrity dwindles his commercial success will continue to
soar which is truly a dreadful sign of the times