Review of signs (2014) by Vadim D — 01 Nov 2014

The movie is such a strange entity that I don't know if it's brilliant, awful or both. While it has some very intense moments and a great performance from Mel Gibson, it also has some really silly moments and some things that don't make a lot of sense.

I will admit though that Shyamalan certainly does know how to create suspense, even in his bad films he knows what he's doing. The movie has a great set up and is quite mysterious, leaving us on edge throughout most of the movie. The movie is told from just this family's perspective and could be considered both good or bad; it is good because we see how a group of people actually react to an invasion for once instead of just having the army come in and shoot the aliens but then again it's bad because we really don't know much about anything of what's going on, we really don't know much about the aliens at all but then again the movie is from the family's perspective and it adds to the suspense, so there is that.

Shyamalan is a weird director of actors, he's sometimes able to bring out the best of people, most notably of course 'The Sixth Sense' but he also brings out the worst in people and some of the acting in this is really all over the place. Culkin is neither written like a child nor acts like a child, he does not act like a child of that age would and yeah you could argue it's because of the mother but I don't think that would make him act like that, he even still has his faith, so that can't be argued. Joaquin Phoenix is a brilliant actor, we all know this, but here he's all over the place, he's playing the character just fine but it's a little strange. Abigail Breslin was great, she was written well and she acted well, hey, she actually acted like a young child, what a miracle! I thought I saw Robert Rodriguez at one point but I was wrong.

To this movie's credit it does have a very good sense of humor, it helps quite a lot given how bizarre this movie can get at times and helps the movie avoid some of the self-seriousness that could have happened. The way Mel Gibson shouts when he runs around the house was some of the best and the way some of the characters react is great too, the humor doesn't get in the way or make the movie feel like any less serious than it is trying to be. The movie has some great suspenseful moments with the use of excellent cinematography and creepy music and it really does work brilliantly. The dinner scene is also another standout scene and it is a very great moment and adds to the theme of family. The movie has great subtlety and there are so many little things that aren't spoon fed to the audience, they just happen and it's there for us to put together and it's really great storytelling. The themes of family, religion, coincidences and fate are explored and offers some great insight into the people of the family and what they're going through, it's really well written.

However it does have some problems, the aliens look a bit clichéd, for the amount of suspense they build up in the beginning, the reveal isn't very inspired. Shyamalan had the crop circles actually made because he didn't want to use CGI and yet the aliens are nothing but. The pantry complaint I don't agree with because the alien clearly got out at the end and it'd take some time given that you have no weapons to get out quicker but you could argue that they're aliens and they should be better at getting out but that's something to be debated about for ages. The water has garnered a lot of complaints and I can understand that and even though it's a silly written weakness but I guess if you explored another planet, we wouldn't know what to expect. But then again, it's all theory and that's the problem, we don't know anything for sure but I could write about this all day, so I'll stop here.

While I think the Shyamalan hype train was strong when this was released, it isn't as amazing as the hype would have you believe but it isn't as awful as you've probably, by now, heard it is. I've spent ages writing this and I know I'll never be happy with it. I have so many conflicting thoughts about this movie that I know I'd write an essay on it if I had the chance. At the end of the day, did I like it? Yes, yes I did, and even though it didn't scare me, it built atmosphere and had good characters but also has some poor plot devices and strange moments. It's a movie that instantly sparks debate, people are still talking about it now and that's really impressive.