Maybe Shymalin IS the next Spielberg, considering he’s deteriorating just the way Spielberg is. It’s not that he doesn’t have the talent or the writing abilities...it’s just that you expect too much and get too little.
In terms of imagery, Shymalin has come a long way since The Sixth Sense...his framing and lighting is more sophisticated, more subtle, and has a sense of grander scale to it. But his content is severely lacking.
If you really think about it even Sixth Sense wasn’t as great as everyone made it out to be because it was one of those films that was too dependent on its ending. If you already know the ending, the whole film loses its ability to make an impact- it cannot stand alone without its ending.
Signs however is not dependent on its ending, other than the fact that you only like it BECAUSE it ends. The main problem is that it is essentially 2 films made as one. Shyamalin should have just made 2 separate stories; one about faith and one about extra terrestrial life. It’s not that the themes cannot fit together, it’s just that in this film they don’t. The beginning has potential, which is why you feel even more disappointed that it gets wrecked.
The look is sufficiently eerie...just the rustle in the crops(reminiscent of The Ghost and the Darkness...) and the barking dogs are enough to chill you, but then Shymalin goes and bungles it up. Then again, speaking of spooky, nothing can be as scary as his acting.
It’s all very well that a director wants to do a Hitchcock and put himself somewhere in his own film but he of all people should be able to gauge how one bad apple can spoil the lot.
A cringeworthy performance and not only that, he brings in another member of the cast even more embarrassing....a low-budget looking alien from some sort of sixties superhero show. It’s quite baffling how a film maker can go in one direction with just the right amount of sensitivity and perception of fear and then turn around and ruin it all. The entrance of the alien suddenly causes the film to lose all of its suspense and even credibility.
Till then your own imagination is giving you a run for your money until Shymalin not only displays his lack of talent in alien-design ( making Spielberg’s ET look like a product of the latest technology)but rams it down your throat. Sometimes I wake at night in a cold sweat thinking of his sidey little alien in the grasshopper outfit.
If you take his basic idea of faith, it can make quite a beautiful story; but the smartest of film makers have always realised that films like this only require suggestive imagery...something that just nudges the audience into exploring their own imagination...never mess with their perceptions by forcibly demonstrating the lack of your own. and that’s where shymalin fails.
The performances were all good, and to be fair he does manage to make you jump once or twice...so whyyyy did he go and wreck a perfectly decent story.....
And dying in water?! what is THAT about? it’s a pity the audience’s tears of disbelief couldn’t have killed the psycho bean-sprouts off alot earlier and brought on a quicker ending...