recommended

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

3.5/4M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense director, returns to the big screen again in 2002 with his new movie, Signs. This film is truly great, if poorly marketed all the way down to the opening credits. The selling point of a Shyamalan movie had become his suspense (which was here) as well as his signature twist (which took a backseat in this movie). After the success of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, he decided to market Signs as a bit more than it actually was. If you watch Signs expecting big thrills and some truly terrifying sequences, you may walk out disappointed. This movie shows that Shyamalan can, in fact, direct more than one genre.The story centers around a widower named Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), his younger adult brother (Joaquin Phoenix), and his two children Morgan and Bo (Rory Culkin and Abagail Breslin). Graham and his two children are grieving the loss of his wife (their mother) and his live-in brother is caught up in the family drama. When they are conflicted with the precursors to an alien invasion, it drives the family into isolation, which makes them closer. It's a very smart and engaging movie that touches on the subjects of despair and fear in a more mature manner than you might expect. The plot is driven by the characters more so than any action, and I found the "alien invasion" to be a mere plot device to propel what is really a drama.The acting is what makes this great. The four main characters have to carry the movie for well over half of the total run time, and they do a good job of keeping the audience involved. In my opinion, this is one of Mel Gibson's better preformances, and as far as a conflicted man mourning the death of his wife, he brings a lot to the table. Joaquin Phoenix gives his standard average effort, and Rory Culkin is great as the son. M. Night Shyamalan has proven to be good at working with kids, first Cole in Sixth Sense, then Joseph in Unbreakable, and now Morgan in Signs.Due to the fact that this is not the thriller you probably thought it was, there seems to be very easy Easter eggs scattered throughout this movie, and a much lesser end twist. There is only one way in which this movie doesn't succeed: the "end twist" seems to answer the question you didn't have, and wouldn't have had. While it truly doesn't compare to his twist in The Sixth Sense, it's easy to forgive, again, considering the joy of Signs are the characters.This is a truly excellent movie from Shyamalan, although it's a shame some people didn't receive it too well. It had a good build-up with great momentum, but as far as chills go, it delivers fairly little. If this were marketed as a Shyamalan crossover drama, I guarantee it would be a blockbuster.

As my headliner says, this movie was oddly enough, pretty good. You couldn't go to a movie store or blockbuster in the early 2000's and not see at least an advertisement for this movie. It was really big. That being said, I was actually pretty impressed when I finally sat down and watched it with my boyfriend. My main issue is that the aliens themselves seem to be the secondary issue that is somewhat overlooked, while the actual hysteria caused by their presence seems to cause more issues than anything else. We're watching the movie and everything is going along good, but near the end, we suddenly hear on the radio that the aliens are leaving earth. You never see any ships, and you only get quick glimpses at the aliens themselves. I feel like this was a pretty decent movie, but there is so much more that could have been done with it.

I don't think this film deserved the poor reviews that some gave it. I've only seen 3 of Night Shylaman's films (6th Sense, Unbreakable) and this one is the most sophisticated in my mind in terms of the director manipulating the viewers into seeing and believing what he wants you to believe.This is not Gibson's worst film by any means. If anything he gets to try to portray an understated, confused, and emotionally scarred character and I think he soft-sells it very well. Joaquin Phoenix also has a similar character to play and he too soft-sells it well. That was probably not an accident as their calm, sullen personalities contrast with the unbearable situation they find themselves in.

Signs was a movie that was created and written by M. Night Shyamalan and released in the middle of 2002. It was filmed in Pennsylvania like most of his work such as, Unbreakable and The Village. Some of the major actor or stars would include Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix which they played the role of Brothers in the movie. Like the title says, it all begin with a signs, Graham(Mel Gibson) the main actor lost his faith on God due to "something" that had happened to him. So, he decided to move out of the city and lives in a peaceful farm. On day, there's a mysterious signs landed on their crop fields which the story begins. At first, I though this is a frightening movie but there's a whole lot more than that. The actors in Signs did a pretty good job in showing their characters role. Also, the symbol of water is pretty important in Signs, it signify the importance of having hope and guys quick facts about M. Night Shyamalan, In most of his movie water played an important role. Overall, I would say Signs was a pretty decent movie if you just want to watch it for entertainment which is okay, but it you are seeking for a movie that explain the importance of faith and the development of individuals overall this is a great movie. I would rate it as an 8 out of 10 because no movie is perfect, one thing I didn't like about Signs is the progress of the story, in my sense the story moves "too" slow, nothing much happened in some scene but it might be my own "favor" that a movie moves fast and have lots of stuff happened in a short period.Thanks for those who read it, and if you have any suggestions for me please commend (p.s. first time writing movie review). This is a community for those who loves and appreciate for movies.