THE TRADEMARK TWIST? UNSUSPECTING AUDIENCE DUPED BY SHYAMALAN

Rating: 1/10 (12 August 2002)

SPOILER: THE TRUE PLOT/STORYLINE - OTHERWISE NO SPECIFIC DETAILS
The only twist here is that this movie was marketed as a scary mystery involving the origin of crop circles and aliens but has very little to do with either. If you are in the mood for a tired old plot with heavy-handed (some might even say nonsensical) religious messages rehashed with the prospect of aliens/crop circles featured basically as a 'hook', AND you don't expect the characters to speak or act realistically, AND a logical plot is not terribly important, then you probably won't have too much of a problem with this film. But that is not the film I expected to see. My strongest, and totally unexpected, reaction to this film was ANGER! I don't mind seeing a bad film, one that just doesn't pull things off, or is the sad product of people with little talent or imagination. But this is personal! Shyamalan's previous surprises have been revelatory and thought provoking. With 'Signs', Shyamalan has demonstrated an appalling lack of respect for his audience and apparently has no ethical qualms about using them to make a buck or to force-feed them his viewpoint, whichever is the motivation. The audience here is just being duped, manipulated and ripped off. If you happen to like the end message, that's fine, no problem. However, please
understand that it is STILL a 'bait and switch'. The fact that someone might like the cheap, shoddy and unimaginative 'substitute' instead of the shiny new product they were enticed into the store (theatre) with, doesn't change the fact that a rip-off took place. All you really get is one of the oldest movie plots in history - man has faith, man suffers a loss, man loses faith, something 'miraculous' happens, man gets faith back. AND we are manipulated into seeing it, paying money and giving up 2 hours of our life that we'll never get back, by false advertising. No offense to any spiritual believers, but if I wanted to see a movie with a supposedly 'uplifting' religious message, I can think of a LOT better ones than this to watch. Yes, there was a good bit of genuine humor and a few very suspenseful moments. I was suspending disbelief and really enjoying the humor and suspense (even though very contrived) up to a point. The problem was that almost from the start the whole thing was marred with implausibilities in plot, dialogue, and character's behavior that just kept adding up until they inevitably made it difficult to enjoy the film even on a superficial level. Even so, I held out hope until the end. My reward? The big finale was just stupid, period. I can only assume the much-anticipated trademark 'twist' is, in reality, simply that many people will be suckered into paying to see a film they otherwise wouldn't have watched and won't enjoy. View at your own risk!