Signs: A Film Review
I do
not intend to show mercy, but there are spoilers
ahead. See, who said I am not caring?
Signs is an American Science fiction film released in
2002. In this third movie by M. Night Shyamalan, aliens invade the earth and after
a crucial conflict, suddenly disappear, or as it seems from the movie, backed
off into their mysterious realm. Signs
is unlike many celebrated films in the genre, like the Independence Day (1996) and Men
in Black series, in having not many shots fired or aircrafts burnt down.
Graham Hess is an Episcopal priest, who discovers
strange signs impressed upon the neat and luscious array of his corns in the field.
By the time he and his brother Merrill discover that the originators of the
signs are not from this world, an alien invasion is reported in the news
channels, and it becomes a global phenomenon.
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| Image Courtesy: Shyamalan |
M. Night Shyamalan’s suspenseful telling of the
story of ordinary country folks is impressive. It is still unclear though, who
told Shyamalan that playing a classical instrumental music in the back score
would help elevate the status of the movie. Signs
has a background score, utterly unusual for a science fiction film. Does it pay
for a difference? Only you can say.
Mel Gibson is Graham Hess. Gibson is a very
talented actor and “does full justice to the role”. There are potential scenes
in Gibson’s pocket. Those performance-oriented scenes are mostly related to a back-story
from Graham Hess’s life. Through a series of flash backs, Shyamalan tells the
story of how Hess’s wife, Colleen Hess died in an accident. Patricia Kalember
plays this role. Merrill Hess is Graham Hess’s brother and is used to be a minor
league baseball player in the past. Merrill lives with Graham and Graham’s two kids,
Morgan and Bo. Joaquin Phoenix, who played Commodus in Gladiator movie, plays the role of Merrill with only good vibes to
send out.
While the news was playing in the TV, in which the proliferation
of the crop circles was the main news, references to India come up too, perhaps
a small favour to the land of the origin of his family. He is born in Mahe, a
small territory in Puducherry, near Kerala, India. Shyamalan was raised in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, which becomes the setting for most of his movies.
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| Image Courtesy: Google |
Apart from the mysterious crop circles, Signs also refers to those signs in
human life that we often overlook. Coincidences are not actually random, and
that randomness too has a cause to be present at a location in time and space. A
baseball bat becomes the crucial tool with which Merrill blows the alien humanoid’s
face towards end of the movie—a tribute to the American popular sport as well
as a sign, saying there was a reason why Merrill played baseball, and why that specific
bat was placed in the vicinity where they would all be trapped, close to losing
Morgan’s life.
Signs is nowhere close to Manoj Night Shyamalan’s first
movie, The Sixth Sense (1999). The science
in the fiction, in Signs, did not
comply with some basic logic, when I think about it. The aliens are shown
vulnerable to water. In the final dual, they kill the alien invader at the
house by making the water sprinkle at the alien. (A series of events, which
Graham Hess learns as coincidences, connected to yield a better result. It also
affirmed his dwindling faith in God, which was the catastrophic aftermath of
his wife’s death.) The water or moisture carrying capacity of air varies
according to temperature levels. However, there will be a certain level of moisture
in the air, under normal circumstances. The question I asked to myself was, why
weren’t the aliens all died out, walking on the earth, if they were actually
vulnerable to water? I am absolutely certain that they weren’t wearing any
spacesuits.
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| Image Courtesy: Google |
Signs also shows, apart from the alien invasion, the
journey of a man from the loss of faith to learning how providence is
manifested, and in regaining his lost faith.
Short
Notice: M. Night Shyamalan performs a surprise role. It is cool.
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