In short: A 97 minute snoozefest with a perplexing scale of events, redeemed somewhat by a good third Act, a great setup-and-payoff character arc, and the usual Shyamalan shock ending.

Well the Signs were there: Supernatural subject matter. Children as important characters. Main character is an unhappy guy with a less than ideal marital status. Pennsylvania setting. Appearance by the writer/director in a small role. Excellent camera work. Shocking twist ending. Yep, it’s an M. Night Shyamalan film.

Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a Pennsylvania farmer raising his son and daughter with help from his brother Merrill(Joaquin Phoenix). Graham has been experiencing a crisis of faith for the past six months, and when crop circles begin appearing in his corn fields and elsewhere, it heralds an ominous event that will not only put him and his children at risk, but force him to resolve his personal crises one way or the other.

After the disappointing Unbreakable, I was hoping M. Night Shyamalan would be redeemed in my eyes with Signs, which boasted a good-looking trailer, and an EXCELLENTLY creepy website. Unfortunately, much as with Unbreakable, I had to struggle to stay awake during this movie, and actually ended up missing some key expositional scenes during the first hour. With The Sixth Sense, there is a big instigating moment right in the very beginning of the movie when Mark Wahlberg’s brother, former New Kid on the Block Donnie Wahlberg, shoots Bruce Willis, and a definite sense of buildup throughout the movie, as the audience, who knows from the movie publicity what the kid’s story is, is slowly given bits and pieces of his abilities, and Bruce Willis as well. Even Unbreakable has that structure. With Signs, all the scenes in the first hour or so seem static and flat, almost interchangeable.

One of the problems I had with the overall scope of the plot is that it has a very odd sense of scale. With movies that deal with the paranormal phenomena (mermaids, aliens, the Loch Ness monster, ghosts), there are two scales at which the subject matter is seen by the general public in the movie: One in which, by the end of the movie, only the main participants in the movie are aware of the existence of said phenomena and the public is not (Shyamalan’s previous two films, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, took this approach, as did Ghost, The X-Files Movie, Date with an Angel, etc. The second scale is one in which the entire public is made aware of the reality of the phenomena, sometimes entailing a massive paradigm shift that changes the entire society, which the movie sometimes will explore. Examples of this scale would be Splash, Independence Day, Spider-Man, X-Men, etc. The reason Signs violates this categorization somewhat is because while it initially appears to abandon the first scale when crops circles begin appearing and lights begin appearing in the night skies over about 300 cities around the world, and news stories about these occurrences dominate the TV airwaves, it doesn’t stick with that scale. Now usually, when a movie takes the general public approach, it will focus on a small group of people against the larger backdrop of the larger global event. But Signs doesn’t really do that, because what happens all over the world is left to an occasional mention by a nervous TV anchorperson, with no discussion about the larger picture, let alone an actual look at that larger picture. In this way, the movie seems to want to have it both ways: Having this stuff taking place all over the world, but putting the entire focus of the film on Graham Hess, his brother and two children, without dealing with the larger background in anything resembling a believable, convincing way, makes it seem like a copout. Yes, you’re supposed to focus on the human element in science fiction, but you’re supposed to show the relationship between that Little Guy and the bigger picture. Here, Graham and family seem entirely cut off from an of the global implications of this plot. This is best exemplified in an extremely forced line in the movie (echoed for humor) about how all the science books will have to be rewritten. Too bad the script didn’t get same suggestion.

Even the "alien threat" is preposterous. Why in the world, \b{\red{(Spoiler Warning: ) after so many years (Centuries? Millennia?) of sneaking around, refusing to be photographed in the flesh or leave any hard evidence behind, doing anal probes on Farmer Bob, etc., would the aliens suddenly decide on an all-out in-your-face global "raid," when subtlety and secrecy has been their stock in trade up till now? \b{\red{(End Spoiler Warning.) It’s cartoony motivation, and the kind of silliness that made Independence Day a ridiculous one-dimensional movie.

That said, the movie is redeemed somewhat by Shyamalan’s understanding of the importance of the character arc, and the manner in which he is able to plant subtle trivia in the first hour of the movie, trivial things that later payoff in two ways by the end of the film—one payoff saves the day and the other helps him resolve his personal crises. There is the patented Shyamalan SHOCK ENDING, and while this is not a revelation per se the way the previous two were, this one will not disappoint. And of course, Shyamalan is a master cameraman, and he really knows how to hold his camera.

While the first hour’s exposition is largely boring, the peekaboo alien scenes are handled PERFECTLY, with scary moments and humor peppered throughout.

Given the sparse amount of publicity for this film so far, the fact that Unbreakable was not the crowd pleaser that The Sixth Sense was, and the way Spider-Man and other films have dominated the summer, I doubt this film will be a box office smash. But hardcore Shyamalan fans might flock to it. But in any case, remember one thing:

Swing hard.

The Spaminator disagrees. You do not want to disagree with the Spaminator. He’ll... spaminate you...

Well, where do I begin? I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of Signs earlier this evening. Before I start going into detail about the movie, let me just say one thing. This is the first movie that I have ever been scared in. Movies never scare me, I usually laugh at scary points in movies, but this movie just did something to me.

Since I went into the movie not knowing much about the movie aside from what I’ve seen in the trailers. My expectations weren’t that high for it, but I was looking forward to seeing it. I’ll try not to have any spoilers in this review, because not knowing anything about the plot added to the experience.

There’s one thing about the movie that makes it stand out. It was really the use of the setting in the film. Because of the setting, it was able to accomplish this great feel about it. The settings are claustrophobic and it really helps the movie. The last half-hour of the movie is just incredible. They way they use a basement or a cornfield to create tension is amazing.

I’m one of those people who think that M. Night Shyamalan is one of the most overrated filmmakers ever. I liked the Sixth Sense, but it just wasn’t that good. This movie totally changed my opinions of him. His direction in this movie is incredible. He is now one of my favorite filmmakers.

Now the acting is also very good. Mel Gibson does a great job as usual. The children (Rory Culkin and I forget who played the daughter) were great too. The actor who I thought shined the most however, was Joaquin Phoenix. He does an outstanding job as Mel Gibson’s brother. Some of his acting in this makes you forget he’s just a character. It’s as if this was real, which brings me to my next point.

Partial Spoilers Ahead

I’d hate to say a movie about aliens is realistic, but they portray worldwide crisis and panic in a way it could happen in real life. The way the alien’s story reveals itself to the public is exactly how I would think it would happen. It’s realistic in the same way that Orson Welles adaptation of War Of The Worlds was realistic.

End Spoilers

Well anyway, when this movie comes out, I urge you to go see this movie. You won’t be disappointed at all with it.

SPAMINATOR

Thanks, guys. Can’t wait to see it for myself and make up my mind.

"Moriarty" out.