M. Night Shyamalan who brought us the 6th Sense and Unbreakable now tackles the issue of alien life and crop circles or is really about hope and faith. Here's a link to a number of reviews for the film from Rottentomatoes website http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Signs-1114791/ Here's Roger Ebert's review. Great piece of writing and very focused on what Shyamalan is doing in the film. When Ebert is on his writing is beautiful. http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/wkp-news-signs02f.html
I saw it a couple of days ago. Shyamalan is America's newest auteur. Has the talent of Spielberg- but a hell of a lot smarter.
AGREED, Shyamalan's movies are brain candy instead of the eye candy that is being thrown our way all the time (not that there's anything wrong with it sometimes). I absolutely LOVED unbreakable and thought that the movie was extremely well written and directed. I thought the pace of the film suited the movie, same with The Sixth Sense. I would have liked to have seen what he would have done with Indiana Jones.
"Signs" is excellent. Like his other movies, there's a ton going on, yet the story never seems cluttered. Gibson is really good, much better than Bruce Willis would have been (in my opinion). I shutter to think what M.N.S. is capable of in the future, as he just seems to get better with every film. By the way, the DVD bootleg of Signs available around NYC is fantastic quality, as far as movie boots go.
Gibson is a great actor. What an incredible variety of roles. The thing that impressed me most how I had him pegged as a serious leading man type and he then is brilliantly funny in the Lethal Weapon films and holds his own in Romantic comedies too.
I agree, Unbreakable was good and underappreciated. I think people didn't like the comic book aspect to it.
I mainly didn't like the "it sucked" aspect, although the comic book silliness had a lot to do with it.
Just got back from seeing the film. It's frightening, and very funny. An odd mix, but one that works. The scene in the vet's home with the door to the cupboard and Gibson use of a mirror polished knife is a thing of beauty. I was laughing in anticipation. Hitch and DePalma would be proud. It was a work of genius. As Footix said, this film works at many levels. It's an alien invasion film, but more importantly it's about losing and finding ones faith and belief in one's self and others. Lot of symbolism and lots of visual clues about what is random and what is an omen or sign. The analogy used by Gibson's character that there are two types of people in the world, those that think everything is random and mere chance and those that see signs or miracles in them is very interesting. A wonderful thought provoking film. Great small role by M. Night as the vet. It generated a lot of discussion with my kids about the film's impact. I was astounded how much attention was payed to the details and dialog by my nine year old daughter. At DQ following the film she told the attendents to "board up your windows", with a smile and a wink. She also asked if their water was contaminated.
BIG RESULT INCLUDED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It was quite scary and quite funny. It was also very symbolic with some great acting and great writing. However, there is one thing that keeps this movie from being great and makes it just a good film. The alien invasion story is underdeveloped. The way it was revealed through the television reports was great, don't get me wrong, and that piece with the brazilian kids was purely wonderful, however 2 huge mistakes appear. Why the ************ did gibson's character just leave that alien in the closet with out telling anyone? You'd think he'd ************ing call the police, at the very ************ing least. I mean here comes an invasion, the goverment might be interested in, I dont know, STUDYING THE DAMN THING!!!!!!!! Instead he just leaves it there and doesn't tell anyone... that really came back to bite him in the ass.. hahaha. but nonetheless, completely ridiculous and almost singlehandedly ruined the movie. second, the aliens are obviously very smart, and highly advanced if they are capable of space travel and what not. Obviously, they would know that water is a weakness of theirs, yet they wore no protection?!?! No armour at all for the invasion? Coming to a planet that is 3/4ths water with no protection against it is laughably ridiculous. those two aspects really knock down what otherwise is a very good film. Overall, taking those things into account, it is still the best movie to come out this summer to my recollection slightly edging out the minority report.
(r) If you don't want to know anything about the film don't read further. Until the end I liked they way he built the suspense but the stupid premise that aliens would launch an invasion and try to conqueror the planet by hand to hand fighting is incredible. One alien against a family.The excuse they wouldn''t use technology because they didn't want us to use nuclear weapons is plain stupid. An alien doesn't even carry a ray gun, he has to hold someone and use gas. The movie would had been over real quick if the alien had broken into any other farmhouse besides a former priest, who apparently didn't have a gun in the house. I could just see the aliens talking on the way home to their planet saying "we can't beat the earthlings they have baseball bats." The aliens can travel the universe but can't get out of a broom closet.Oh apparently he does eventually which is also not explained how since he couldn't when gibson was there.I agree with the fornmer poster in asking why gibson didn't call the police then and there. Also the reason for crop circles are never truly explained except some vague refernce to visual map blueprint. What did the crop circle sign outside this house mean "these people don't have a gun."
Re: (r) Maybe the alien just busted through the door after Gibson left, but it took a little time. I would venture to say that Gibson didn't call the police because he was worried about his family first and foremost and he wanted to make sure they were safe. If you knew that there were aliens all over the skies and that they were finally on earth would you call the cops. He lives in a small town, the cops are already preoccupied. They wouldn't have had the chance to respond. They were probably receiving calls like that already. I thought they were thorougly explained. The crop circles were coordinates and references left by the "probers" to the invading forces. They didn't translate them, but they explained what they were.
Re: Re: (r) The policewoman had the time to come out every time before that gibson had called her before. That is not an explaination of crop circles that is just a vague refernce. An alien invader brings no weapon to defend himself how ridiculous is that and is defeated by a baseball bat.
Re: Re: Re: (r) Actually it took several hits from a guy that clobbered a 505 foot tape measured home run to bring him down. Well when you get right down to it, the water did him in. After he fell backwards and hit the desk or table knocking over the glases of water. what a klutz. Gets himself locked in the pantry and then gets toasted by 3-4 glasses of water. I agree with Dante. The crop circles were explained. Actually, of all the effects the aliens were very disappointing. They looked like Slezstak from the Land of the Lost. In fact they didn't seem particularly evolved.
Re: Re: Re: (r) Yes, but ALL the times before there weren't alien ships in Earth's atmosphere and there wasn't the widespread panic that was going on. The times she went out everything was relatively calm and people still had no clue as to what was about to happen. How much more specific do you want? They explained that the crop circles were co-ordinates and signs of what to expect. That's explaining what they were. Did you want them to literally translate all the crop circles? It wouldn't be feasible, seeing as in how it happened over a few days. Humans would need to know a lot about the aliens in order to translate their crop circles. It would take a bit of research, something which couldn't be done within the timespan of the movie. Well the aliens were very quick, strong, smart and had that little appendage that released the toxic gas. Remember that they DID kill LOTS of people.
Re: Re: Re: Re: (r) That they had to bend people over their knees and place near their noses for it to work, what an efficient way to fight, especially when your a much advanced race and even then it couldn't even kill a sick asthmatic child. I guess all of the people they killed didn't have either guns or broom closets to lock these intelligent, fast, strong aliens in.
I think "Signs" is pretty good but not as well executed as "Sixth Sense" and not as ambitious as "Unbreakable". Shyamalan may be becoming too comfortable with his narrative style.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (r) We don't know that the aliens need to bend people over their knees to kill them with the gas. The alien seemed to be toying with gibson et al. and seemed a little apprehensive. It's highly likely that they could just walk up to someone and raise their hand and kaput.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (r) It was never established that guns could harm the aliens. This movie wasn't Independence Day, so it focused on one family's ordeal and we didn't see any of the military/political response. I would think that armies around the world would have been attempting to shoot these things, but we learned that it wasn't military force, but something discovered by some folks in the Middle East (probably the water-aversion, but it wasn't said), that caused the aliens to retreat. The aliens were just a backdrop to tell a story about faith and family, so that's why we aren't given a full sci-fi alien mythology to work with.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (r) If they could be killed by a baseball bat I assume they could be killed by guns.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (r) He was hurt and near death by the baseball bat. Another thing that is stupid, aliens want to conqueror a planet that has rain which can kill them how realistic and smart is that.
Those of you who want to pick apart the movie because of plot holes -- that's fine. But keep in mind that no movie is ever perfect. I can't begin to count the number of times someone who's gone to a movie with me has said, "That would never happen in real life," or "The filmmaker forgot to explain X or Y." I say to them and I say to those of you who are picking apart "Signs" -- It's only a movie. Realize the film for what it is -- a story about regaining lost faith. The whole alien invasion storyline is merely the backdrop for that plotline. When viewed through that lens, I thought the movie was very good, and I really like Shyamalan's work. I concur with everyone else who thinks that "Unbreakable" is underappreciated.
Exactly. This is very much like Night of the Living Dead. What kind of radiation would re-animate the dead? Why would head wounds or contussions de-animate them? Just enjoy the movie.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: (r) It was clearly stated that they had NO intentions of taking over Earth. They simply wanted to harvest human bodies. Besides, the aliens are a small part of the movie. The big part is a mans struggle with faith and what leads him back to his faith. The aliens are used as a backdrop.
I think it was the fluoride in the water that did the damage. It's why the girl didn't like the taste. The aliens can handle water, as long as it has purity of essence.