Cast: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Producers: M. Night Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer
Screenplay: M. Night Shyamalan
Cinematography: Tak Fujimoto
Music: James Newton Howard
U.S. Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Just when it seemed that every shelf in the "alien visitors" library had found an occupant, M. Night Shyamalan has uncovered an unused one for his own use. Although Shyamalan’s Signs includes plenty of clues and cues from previous movies about the arrival of our stellar neighbors, his overall approach is radically different from the ones taken by Independence Day, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Contact, or other similar fare. By limiting the number of special effects shots and treating the film more like a horror movie than a science fiction spectacle, Shyamalan creates a claustrophobic atmosphere and keeps the tension level high. There were times during this film when I was strongly reminded of Panic Room.
It helps that the trailers don’t give much away. Although Signs doesn’t have a "surprise" ending like The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable, nearly everything about the aliens is shrouded in mystery - their appearance, their intentions, and whether they’re friendly or hostile - and it’s better that these things are discovered through the viewing process, not beforehand. I don’t know who was the primary architect of the commercials and trailers, but they have done an effective job of teasing the movie without revealing anything critical. Aside from there being crop circles, aliens, and Mel Gibson, we don’t know much.
Gibson, whose salary probably represents a significant portion of Signs’ budget, plays Father Graham Hess, a widower who is caring for his two children, Morgan(Rory Culkin) and Bo(Abigain Breslin), on a Bucks County(Pennsylvania) farm. Following his wife’s death six months ago, Graham has done his best to keep his family together. He is aided by his younger brother, Merrill(Joaquin Phoenix), who moved to the farm following the tragedy. But Graham has lost his faith in God and has renounced his vocation. Then, one morning, he awakens to an amazing discovery - crop circles in his fields. At first, he is inclined to believe it’s all a hoax, but, as evidence mounts that this may not be the case, he and his family realize that what has happened in their fields may be the first signs that Earth is about to have a close encounter.
While much of Shyamalan’s setup is familiar, the meat of the story has an exotic flavor. Taking a page from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, the director keeps the aliens hidden from our view. We catch occasional, brief glimpses - a leg in the corn field, a hand under a door, and a flash of green on a television screen. With today’s special effects being so convincing, it’s unusual for a filmmaker to fall back on the old, tried-and-true technique of "less is more". In the case of Signs, it creates a level of tension that a full revelation would have spoiled.
Then there’s the added mystery of whether the aliens are benevolent or aggressive. Shyamalan obscures their intentions for most of the movie, concentrating instead upon the fears and concerns of the characters when they don’t know the truth. Graham gives a speech in which he talks about how some humans will view first contact as a miracle that gives them hope, while others will see it as a cause for anxiety and uncertainty. In other words, is Earth about to be subjected to a Close Encounters or an Independence Day? For quite some time, Shyamalan doesn’t tip his hand, and, when he does so, it isn’t in a predictable manner.
A curious choice that helps the film’s overall tone is James Newton Howard’s decision to echo Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho score during the opening credits. While there’s nothing particularly Hitchcockian about Signs, Howard’s invocation of the seminal "shock" picture sets a subconscious expectation that comes into play as circumstances become increasingly more suspenseful. Those who are familiar with Psycho will be primed moments after the "Touchstone Pictures" logo has disappeared.
The movie is not without its faults. In order to convey one of his key themes - that of the loss of faith and its restoration - Shyamalan resorts to sermonizing with a stridency that makes bludgeoning seem restrained. Instead of relying on subtlety and an audience’s intuition and intelligence, he hammers home his point in such an overt manner that it’s almost laughable. Even after the most obtuse viewer will have figured out his message, he offers one more "clue". An unfortunate side-effect of this tactic is that there are times when the characters lose their individuality and become mouthpieces for the cause.
Then there’s Shyamalan’s way of dealing with actors, which is to tone them down as much as possible. While it’s refreshing to see a film in which there’s not a whiff of melodramatic scene-chewing, Shyamalan doesn’t seem to have learned that there’s a difference between low-key and dead. The muted performances make it difficult to care for the characters. Yes, Mel Gibson portrays an emotionally wounded individual, but there’s a difference between essaying a closed-off character and giving a closed-off performance. One could even argue that he is miscast - at the least, Signs doesn’t play to his strengths as an actor. We think of him as a heroic type, not someone who simply reacts to circumstances. This is a Kevin Costner part. On the other hand, the kids - young Abigail Breslin and Rory Culkin(the latest of the Culkin brood) - give nicely modulated turns.
Like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, Signs is not easily pigeonholed into a single genre. It gleefully crosses boundaries and defies classification. In many ways, it is Shyamalan’s most accomplished film to date. Unlike The Sixth Sense, it doesn’t rely on bamboozling the audience. And, irrespective of its flaws, Signs is more satisfying than Unbreakable. Despite the financial success of his two previous outings(combined, nearly$1 billion worldwide), no one is yet ready to reserve a place in the director’s hall of fame for Shyamalan, but, based on the evidence available in Signs, he is maturing nicely.