Close to the magic of old b/w sci-fi movies

Rating: 8/10 (12 May 2003)

This is a movie I enjoyed a lot. For a long time, we've missed the style of b/w sci-fi classic oldies, where claustrophobia, suspense, and thrilling sightings were basic ingredients. Signs recovers all this stuff. It's a new movie which recovers the classic magic of the oldies.
It also provides an "update" to the genre: The characters watch the TV-news 24hrs/day, just like all of us did when recent terrorist and/or war acts happened. In fact, one of the brightest moments in the movie is indeed a TV news flash showing a home video.
The plot has a strong structure. If you watch the movie several times, you'll realize all scenes come at the right time. Every scene is necessary (except for some too much scary moments, maybe).
On the other hand, Signs has three things I didn't like:
First of all, crop circles seem unnecessary in the movie. They're not really exploited in the plot (except for the title, maybe). I believe the movie would have been a lot better if it was based in, for example, mysterious UFO photographs rather than crop circles.
Second, I think it's too scary in some moments, more than needed. I really loved the many thrilling sightings, but... most of them come after very frightening scenes, and it seems there's no need to scare the audience so much. You can show the same things and at the same time be suitable for a broader audience. It's not incompatible.
Third, I believe the F/X art direction was not adequate. Technically it was very good, but the art/concept was not (ie: the things you see in the F/X lack the sci-fi atmosphere you'd expect, although they're technically very well done). This doesn't affect non-FX art direction: I believe art direction is satisfactory in non-FX scenes.
Despite these three things, I really loved the movie. It's a movie I can watch again and again without getting bored. Is so exciting to re-discover the classic sci-fi magic!!
I voted it as 8/10