More Good Stuff from M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 9/10 (12 August 2002)

In Signs Mel Gibson plays a former protestant minister living with his children and his brother (played by Joaquin Phoenix) on a farm in Pennsylvania.
Disillusioned by the freakish accident that took the life of his wife, Gibson left the church only months before the beginning of the film (everyone in town still wants to call him "father"). Despite his loss of faith, however, Gibson still loves his children fiercely and he guards them very closely.
Early in the film, Gibson's children discover a series of crop circles in their corn fields, and not long after, the news reports a significant increase in crop-circle sighting all over the world. Are the Aliens coming? Are they trying to tell us something?
You'll have to watch the film for the answers to those questions, but I will tell you that I don't think this film is really about aliens. This film is really about human beings, and fate, and faith, and family.
Shyamalan is adept at creating a very tense, mysterious atmosphere in this film, and Gibson and Phoenix are (as should be expected) excellent. Shyamalan's trademark "twist" is certainly not as impressive as in the "Sixth Sense" but this is still a very good film.
I look forward to more from this director. I gave Signs an 8.