Insight and suspense in 'Signs'

Signs is M. Night Shyamalan’s newest flick. The local writer/director continues using his already familiar formula in his work. As in Unbreakable and The Sixth Sense, an underlying theme is revealed, and culminates in a twist of an ending.

This time, however, the story is not set in Philadelphia; it takes place a mere stone’s throw away, in Bucks County. Once more, following in the footsteps of a bunch of past filmmakers (Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King, and that crappy guy who did the last room in Four Rooms) Shyamalan appears as one of the characters. He’s not so bad, either.

Signs is a dramatic psychological sci-fi thriller that prompts us, through a rather elaborately woven script, to question whether life is just a string of random, unrelated incidents or governed by something more. Both Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix deliver tremendous performances.

Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) is a pastor who recently left the church after his wife was killed in a motor vehicle accident. He owns a farm in Bucks County, where he lives with his brother and two children. Crop circles appear in his corn patch, and things are very spooky from then on. In the beginning, we’re just not sure what to make of it. These crop circles show up and they only have one cop take a look at them. Apparently the police in Bucks County are busy elsewhere, but the point is that they don’t take the circles very seriously.

We all know about the gigantic crop circles hoax that occurred in the UK a while back. It was confessed that two men made these complex and intricate patterns in fields overnight. This is referenced in Signs and that is that — for the time being.

Graham’s two children, Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin), are quick to believe that aliens are responsible for the crop circles. After buying a book about UFOs and aliens, they promptly don stylish aluminum foil head garbs to shield their brain waves.

Even though he believed local hoodlums to be the cause of the trouble, Graham’s brother Merril (Joaquin Phoenix), begins to believe that visitors from another planet are behind it after he experiences an eerie close encounter himself.

More circles begin to appear around the globe. Hundreds are soon discovered to be popping up everywhere. The media whips the world into a frenzy; talk of the crop circles is on everyone’s lips — and we still have no idea what’s causing them.

The suspense involved in this part of the movie alone is worth the price of a ticket. The cinematography was truly outstanding, and I’m sure the storyboards read like a really good comic book. The fact that the truth behind the circles isn’t revealed to us until quite near the end of the movie is simply good filmmaking.

Also, we’re basically just taken along for the ride. There’s no narrative, and there’s no way for us to know any more about what’s happening than the participants do. It’s quite gripping in many parts and definitely difficult for me to categorize it.

Unfortunately, I’d have to say that after the truth is revealed, the movie isn’t quite as good as it had been up to that point. Sure things are still happening, and I’m satisfied in general, but if the energy of the first three-quarters of the movie had been extended to the very end, I’d be ecstatic.

The best I can do to label it is to say that it’s a thrilling and intellectual drama, with just a hint of science fiction thrown in. In fact, the idea this movie is pushing is one that could have been accomplished without the use of the plausibility of alien life.

Shyamalan still shows promise. After The Sixth Sense, I was a pretty disappointed by Unbreakable, but I must admit that after having seen Signs, I’m pretty excited about his future projects.

4 Triangles