Signs is a study of faith and fear wrapped around a minimalist story of suspense, telling of an alien invasion of Earth. While its all-too-neat conclusion is a bit of a letdown, everything that leads up to it is Hollywood commercial filmmaking of the highest order.

Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), his brother and his children live on a farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Graham is a former minister who lost his faith in God several months ago when his wife was killed in an accident. Somewhat numb to the world around him, Graham (and his family) is about to find his faith tested once again. One morning, he discovers a series of large crop circle formations in his cornfields. At first, he thinks the formations are nothing more than a prank being played on he and his family by locals. When television reports from around the world show that hundreds of similar crop formations, and the occasional alien appearance, are on the increase, signs begin to point to otherworldly things.

Shyamalan uses many tricks he employed in his past two films, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, to full effect here: the foreboding atmosphere, the delicate pacing, the building of suspense to almost unbearable levels, some very well-paced jolts culminating in a big-payoff ending. Thanks to Shyamalan's expert balancing of a minimalist extraterrestrial invasion tale with an emotional, thought-provoking look at one man's loss, challenge and possible redemption of his faith not only in God but also the human race, Signs stands apart from his two previous films.

Also unlike those two films, Signs is not a sombre shocker. A large and welcome amount of humor is injected throughout the film, allowing for the viewer to connect to the characters and story in a way that was present in Sense (minus the laughs) but lacking from Unbreakable. It's still nice to see every so often a Hollywood filmmaker that respects not only the audience's imagination, but also their intelligence.

As with Shymalan's previous efforts, the film has been perfectly cast. Gibson's low-key turn as the disheartened father is one of his best performances in a long time. Conducted largely through facial expressions that carry maximum emotional impact, Gibson allows us to feel Graham's pain and sense of loss while also fully understanding his questioning of belief and faith. Just as impressive is Joaquin Phoenix as Merrill, Graham's brother. He provides most of the movie's comic relief with a dry, understated and perfectly timed delivery. Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin are spot on as Graham's kids, Morgan and Bo. And Cherry Jones turns in a nice small role as the local sheriff and even M Night himself has an impressive cameo as the man who was responsible for the death of Graham's wife.

My one reservation with Signs lies in its final few scenes. It feels like Shyamalan was going for the crowd-pleaser ending, a nice and tidy wrap up that doesn't gel with the rest of the film. It's not a terrible ending. It simply is a tiny bit of a letdown in light of what came before it.

Finale aside, Signs is the type of film you wish Hollywood would look at and try to copy more often. Like the recent Minority Report and Road To Perdition, it proves that motion pictures can be both entertaining and thought provoking without these attributes cancelling each other out. It shows that you don't need to show everything or spell everything out to the audience to grab and keep their attention. It also proves that M Night Shyamalan is indeed a truly talented film maker.

share:  Facebook | Digg | del.icio.us | more

from the archive Star Trek Meryl Streep INTERVIEW Slumdog Millionaire