M. Night Shayamalan has now directed three big screen theatrical releases that have received attention from the viewing public (well, two, if you consider The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable to be pretty much the same movie). Each has made mucho bucks, made some critics ecstatic and others ill. So, the verdict is still out on this guy. Is he a genius, a purveyor of schlock masquerading as quality, or something else altogether?

My vote goes with “something else altogether”. None of his films is pure thriller; each has at its core a single character who is forced to face himself as the result of paranormal crisis. This is a tough combination, the character study and the supernatural thriller. Even Stephen King, perhaps the best contemporary writer of character driven horror, stumbles when it comes to translations to film. So, after seeing Shayamalan’s most recent effort, Signs, I feel compelled to review the components of the film as well as the film as a whole, for some succeed and others fail. And I think this is why critics are so divided in their opinions of the movie as a whole.

Signs opens with Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) waking suddenly, alone, with a feeling of dread. He goes to check his children, Morgan (Cory Culkin, yup, there’s another one) and Bo (Abigail Breslin). Just as he decides to simply go back to bed, he hears far off screams. As he bursts from the house he is met by his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), who lives over the barn and has also been roused by the screams. The two take off into the field of corn, where they finally find the dazed children in the middle of the crop, having discovered a real impressive crop circle. The kids were woken by the dogs, which seem to be in an absolute frenzy.

Graham informs the police, who have been pretty busy with both routine business and a rash of animals turned nasty (can anyone say foreshadow?). Graham rationalizes the circles as a prank, and tries mightily to ignore the incident. He continues even after Morgan is forced to kill one of the dogs after it tries to harm Bo (I think I saw that coming!), and tries even harder and with greater desperation as odd occurrences the world over begin to get press coverage. Seems there may be somethin’ extraterrestrial a brewin’! We learn in fits and starts that Graham is a former minister who abandoned his church and his faith after the death of his wife, Colleen (Patricia Kalember), in a seemingly senseless car accident. Now, six months later, Merrill has moved in to help and the four of them live on the farm. Graham tries to force himself into some semblance of normality despite the increasingly abnormal circumstances, just as he has been doing for the past half year. As the world proceeds to look as if it is going to hell, and soon, Graham is forced to examine himself, his family, and his faith.

So, we have three distinct areas of focus here. First we have the Hess family drama, a family trying desperately to deal with its own personal tragedy. Next we have a fable of faith, in this instance faith in God. Last, we have an extraterrestrial alien thriller.

The Family Drama


Graham (wisely not played by Bruce Willis) and the children are little more than marginally functional trauma survivors. The circumstances surrounding Colleen’s death are slowly revealed in flashback, but it is plain from the beginning that Graham has been unable to begin healing, despite the help of Merrill, and that the children are suffering. Raw emotion bubbles below the surface but no one seems to be able to break through far enough to deal with the loss, the anger, or the pain. As the world comes crashing down, the family finally begins to crack that shell. In a series of moving scenes, Graham tells the children of their births, and how Colleen loved them from that first moment. He struggles to speak of this; plainly he has not spoken with them about their mother in any real way since her death. One tragedy begets the open recognition of another.

The Fable

This is where the heart of the story lies. Graham is angry with his God and refuses to waste another moment of his life pretending that there is any benevolent being looking out for his welfare. He no longer views luck as a sign of benevolence, not does he believe in miracles or divine intervention. He no longer sees signs as anything but random coincidence. His wife’s cruel and senseless death has made him angry and he has no other place to put that anger than on the force he devoted his life to worshipping. The fable focuses on Graham’s spirit as he once again sees the signs he has renounced as meaningless, and as he faces the end of his world. It is then that he must examine himself, and decide whether he is the type of person to see signs and act on them or the type to curse random chance. His struggle forms this core fable, which has supernatural elements quite separate from those in the alien story. While Graham’s struggle is over his faith in God, the fable is really about a more universal struggle of faith in anything outside one’s self.

The Aliens

*SPOILER ALERT*

Last, and most certainly least, we have the story of the alien beings come to earth. This story frames the other two and is by far the least developed. Those looking for a full out thriller (or even a mediocre episode of the X-Files) are likely to be sorely disappointed in this part of the movie. The aliens are ill defined, with neither charisma nor clear motive, the two things that make an enemy compelling. Visually unspectacular, these beings are a means to an end. They exist solely to draw out the family drama and the fable. In other words, they pretty much stink, and the way they are defeated is completely lame.
*END SPOILER ALERT*

The Performances

Mel Gibson does an admirable job with Graham. He is stiff and uncomfortable in both the role he has chosen (atheist Dad) and the role that is being thrust upon him (fight the aliens Dad). The stiffness is intentional, and there are times, when he is being honest with himself, that it disappears altogether. While he doesn’t have the ability to dissolve into a character that some actors possess, his portrayal of Graham is very good. Plus he has the added benefit of not being Bruce Willis.

Rory Culkin and Abigail Breslin as Morgan and Bo are quite effective. They are able to give a sense of the deep wound they carry and are able to be more than a bit spooky in their prescience (especially Breslin). These are excellent performances from such young actors.

Joaquin Phoenix as Merrill is wonderful (is this guy ever bad? he even made Gladiator tolerable). An ex-minor league baseball player with a habit of swinging at anything, Merrill is confident in his physical ability and staunch in his loyalty to his brother. Phoenix provides most of the moments of comic relief in the film, and does so quite effectively. His sometimes child-like reaction to the current crisis is part of what forces Graham to be more than a zombie. The scene of him and the kids sitting in a row wearing tin foil helmets is priceless.

Writing and Directing

Shayamalan (who appears as the man who killed Colleen – he might want to stay on the other side of the camera) appears to be a writer/director who, for the moment, has a reach that exceeds his grasp. The marketing of his movies as pure thrillers also does them a disservice. Here he has used a poorly defined alien thriller as a subplot to frame the more central stories. He unfortunately lets the subplot tease too much without delivering. At some point, I think he will strike that perfect balance of character and thriller and turn out a hell of a movie. Signs tries, but the bungled alien story detracts too much from the others. On the positive side, I’m impressed with the realistic way he lets his characters deal with their bizarre circumstance. Unlike so many thrillers, where the characters seem to just want to die, the Hess family repeatedly does what rational people might do, they run the hell away. Again, showing a more character than action driven film.

Ultimately, both the family drama and the fable work well. The characters are well drawn and the performances are all strong. Where the movie fails is in the alien story. It’s too well developed to be a mere backdrop, and not well enough developed to gain any real momentum or be of any real interest. Two out of three ain’t bad, and someday this guy may hit a home run. His chosen type of film is difficult to pull off, but he’s gotten pretty close now twice. When he nails that elusive mix of character and thriller, it’ll be a sight to see. Even though Signs misses that mark, it’s still well worth a rent.



*I wavered on the star rating here, but had to stick with 3 Things just didn't come together well enough to give it 4. I guess that would make it a 3 1/2, or maybe a 3 1/4.......



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD