A thoughtful, trans-genre atmospheric work that bears the Shyamalan signature.
Signs (2002)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:218
Fresh:161
Rotten:57
Average Rating:6.8/10
Consensus: With Signs, Shyamalan proves once again an expert at building suspense and giving audiences the chills.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some frightening moments
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Theatrical Release:Aug 2, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $227,935,522
Synopsis: It's contaminated. That's what pint-sized Bo (Abigail Breslin) says about every glass of water that she tries to drink, then rejects. This is just one in a long list of strange occurrences that are... It's contaminated. That's what pint-sized Bo (Abigail Breslin) says about every glass of water that she tries to drink, then rejects. This is just one in a long list of strange occurrences that are changing the lives of the Hess family. Things go awry when Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his brother, Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), awake early one morning to find the dogs barking and the children--Bo, and her brother Morgan (Rory Culkin)--wandering bleary eyed in the corn fields. They discover a pattern of perfectly carved crop circles left the night before. Trying not to overreact, Graham ignores the media frenzy that has permeated all television and radio stations, and even shrugs off the oddly familiar information that Morgan reads in his book about extraterrestrials invading earth. The real challenge for Graham is to find the faith he needs to pull himself, and his family, through this unexplainable series of events. SIGNS is the long-anticipated film from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE), a suspenseful and uniquely chilling family story. [More]
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin
Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan, Patricia Kalember
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenwriter: M. Night Shyamalan
Producer: Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer
Composer: James Newton Howard
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
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Reviews for Signs
I couldn't help but think if Shyamalan wouldn't have had a better movie if he'd stuck with former star Willis
Shyamalan's masterful direction makes the film succeed. What scares us out of our seats is not what we see or hear, but what we think we might see and hear.
Shyamalan fuses the fictional evidence of his extraterrestrials with the presumed righteousness of God in a way that will make no sense to anyone who has ever questioned either.
Though it sometimes stumbles over its own seriousness, Signs is easily the most provocative film in a long while.
It’s a terrain that reverses the cultural value assigned to the low angle shot... but ultimately transforms the viscera of horror/ sci-fi cinema to a feckless point.
It's a credit to the actors that this nonsensical thriller/sci-fi story comes off as reasonably well as it does.
About the characters first and the extraordinary situations they find themselves into second.
Shyamalan manages to spend very little time and effort on special effects and boring explanations -- and plenty of time on pure terror.
Reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, most of the scary parts in 'Signs' occur while waiting for things to happen.
If you forced me to sum up the Shyamalan trilogy so far… sound and fury signifying very little.
Shyamalan takes a potentially trite and overused concept (aliens come to Earth) and infuses it into a rustic, realistic, and altogether creepy tale of hidden invasion.
One of the most effective movies so far at capturing a jittery nation's case of the yips.
It's fair to speculate whether Shyamalan's persistence in replicating the otherworldly formula of The Sixth Sense might not be a futile and self-defeating exercise.
Shyamalan's by-now trademark spookiness is starting to play like a CD consciously designed to duplicate the success of an album that sold 10 million copies.
Ultimately, Signs -- as original, interesting and ambitious as it is -- is a post-9/11 movie of possibly the most dubious sort.
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