Very disappointing...

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Long time ago, I saw this film and I defined it as fascinating. it was the first meet with the universe of M. Night Shyamalan. and maybe, as schyzoid man, I discovered Signs as a sort of revelation. about faith, parenthood, relation with the traumas from past, self acceptance, family. it is not easy to define a lovely work as this. because , from performances, script and cinematography, cultural references and thrill, it remains more than a great movie. but an useful confession.

A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come. Signs is a film that is slow and it takes some time to get where it wants to be and the lack of action for some it might hurt the movie in the eyes of certain viewers. The perfomances from the main cast are terrific especially Mel Gibson and Abigail Breslin and some scenes like the one where Phoenix's character is watching one of the aliens on the TV were super creepy. Signs wanted to make a difference and built suspense instead of action and despite some pacing issues it did that. (8/10)

Shyamalan can be both very good at creating tension, building a story and so, but also having some of the most embarrassing moments of his movies in just one movie and this happens here.This movie tells the story of a little family who lives in a house in the middle of a cornfield in Pensylvania. One day, mysterious crop circles appears in their cornfield and all over the world and the start to being suspicious of an extraterrestrial attack. This is the story and it's very well introduced to us. The story in itself was great, except for a few things I will tell you later, and gave some emotional moments but also very tense moments. The movie stays very well in all of it's duration, except the last ten minutes or so, which were a big let down from the whole movie and left me a bit cold (well from here I save the awesome score by James Newton Howard and the performance of Mel Gibson).Mel Gibson provides a good performance, sometimes a bit odd, but overall is good, and also Joaquin Phoenix who provides some very good scenes with Mel Gibson, even the little girl, Abigail Breslin, had some time to shine and to help you to connect with this family, but I personally don't like the little boy. It's true that he provides some very emotional moments with his father, Mel Gibson, but that's not until the last part of the movie, in the rest he provides very awkward moments that don't feel natural for a ten-year-old kid. I'm specially talking about the thing that he kills his dog with a knife at the beginning of the movie, or the things of the aliens, that he seems to know a lot about, or the phrases he says randomly like "He's going to burn it all" or the thing of the silver cones in their heads. This is one of the main flaws of the movie that didn't worked for me.But in the technical aspects you cannot say that Shyamalan is not a master of manipulation. He is able to show just the thing he wants to show you without leaving too much time for reacting. One example of this is the scene where Mel Gibson enters at night in the cornfield, the tension builds up with the music but suddenly stops and you think nothing is going to happen, but then he drops his flashlight and when he turns it on again you can see for a second this alien crossing the cornfield near him, the music enters and you realize this really and amazing way of frightening you. His way of filming, moving the camera away of the things you really want to see, just keeps this tension along the movie. The music created by James Newton Howard is one of the other things that add a lot of tension to this. He is able to create quirky fast themes but also very tense moments to keep you on the edge of your seat.I recommend you this movie if you're a Shyamalan fan. You will surely enjoy it as I did, except this little awkward moments he has usually in his movies.

You think crop circles are a hoax? M. Night Shyamalan's film tries to have you thinking differently. And not just about crop circles.Rev. Graham Hess, is a widower living in a farmhouse along with his two children, Morgan and Bo. Graham's younger brother, Merrill, has also joined the household. Wait. Did I say REVEREND Graham Hess? Make that FORMER reverend since, as a result of his struggle to make sense of his wife's death, Mr. Hess has lost his faith.His wife's dying words were "Tell Merrill to swing away..." The randomness of those words sends Graham into a nihilistic tailspin, causing him to say things like, "I am not wasting one more minute of my life on prayer" and "there is no One looking out for us...we are all alone."But it is the seemingly random words and happenstances of the film that congeal in the end to produce an epiphany of sorts. In this regard, Hess's epiphany is not too different from the one experienced by Jules in Tarentino's PULP FICTION. If PULP FICTION had a big idea, it was that even the least worthy can catch a break from the Man Upstairs. Similarly, Shyamalan's big idea here is that even when aliens with bad intent show up on earth, God still cares, God is still in charge. It's just not so obvious. Until it is.In this way, "Signs" may just be a 105-minute, suspense-filled meditation on the Scripture that goes, "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God..." (Romans 8:28). And maybe even for the good of those who don't.This film has its definite strengths. There are some genuinely eerie moments midst the cornstalks (naturally). The "Field of Dreams"-like setting and cinematography are easy on the eyes, effectively contrasting with the shadowy alien invasion. As for the cast, Abigail Breslin (as Bo), barely six years old and in her first film, does a great job being unself-consciously precocious. And there's barely a hint of Mad Max in Mel Gibson's Graham Hess. Furthermore, I tend to like anything Joaquin Phoenix does, including the weird Hip-Hop-ZZ-Top thing he did a few years ago. The weak link is the older brother (played by the younger brother of the kid who played the kid in the Home Alone films).Cinematically speaking, it is clear that Shyamalan has learned much from his movie-making idol, Alfred Hitchcock. On the other hand, unlike Hitchcock, Shyamalan is not content with a fleeting cameo. Instead, he cast himself in the role of a major minor character and the low quality of this performance is distracting. So, yeah, another weak link.Yet another complaint: the aliens come off as pretty wimpy. How is it that a humanoid species can figure out how to travel from one solar system to another but can't figure out a defense against one of the most basic of elements? C'mon now. Really, the best thing about this film is the theological question: Does a caring God exist or not? Shyamalan keeps this theological tension taut throughout the film and resolves it in a manner that you probably did not see coming.UPSHOT: despite its flaws, "Signs" manages to be a worthy film that can promote an even more worthy conversation about fate and faith, God and grace.