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SIGNS Send This Review to a Friend
When the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman wanted to make a film about a clergyman doubting his faith Bergman emerged with the brilliant "Winter Light." The subject as treated in M. Night Shyamalan's manipulative "Signs" is merely the pretentious backdrop for what is basically a stereotypical sci-fi suspense yarn with creatures from outer space as the enemy. It's pure nonsense enhanced by Shyamalan's talent at making an audience think it is seeing something of worth by his skill at scare tactics and cinematic gimmickry. But I was no fan of his "The Sixth Sense" either.
The film's strongest asset is Mel Gibson as Graham Hess, a clergyman in a rural part of Pennsylvania who has rejected his faith. Given America's fondness for religion we know right away that his doubts must be temporary. The death of Hess's wife in an auto accident has left him bereft and angry, as are his young son and daughter. The sudden mystery of a large circular design in a cornfield becomes a sign of something strange taking place and television reports of other odd developments in Mexico and elsewhere add up to an invasion from another planet. Accordingly, creepy creatures are turning up in the Hess home vicinity.
There you have the formula. Hess, his younger brother (Joaquin Phoenix) and the children (Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin) board up their home against the outer terror--what's-behind-the-door sort of stuff--while Shyamalan's screenplay takes care of the inner terror gnawing at the mind and soul of the doubting minister, who must be put to the faith test. Gibson is especially good at giving a low-key, level-headed and caring performance as he protectively guides his family flock through it all. For the audience there's a bit of informational and emotional help through flashbacks into the circumstances of the tragic death of Hess's wife Colleen (Patricia Kalember) and Hess's response at the time. Cherry Jones gives a warm performance as a local police officer.
The writer-director is wise enough to provide small doses of humor to alleviate the phony tension that's created along with the phony metaphysical stuff. And the kids are sort of cute. Maybe you love this sort of entertainment. A
Touchstone Pictures release.
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