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Signs
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As Always, a review of The
Film and The DVD (extras)!
The Film:
Every Hollywood film director has his share
of fans. Tim Burton, David Fincher, Steven Spielberg; the list goes on.
That said, I am a major fan of M. Night Shyamalan, whose best films --particularly The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable--
are not a mere ghost story or superhero story, respectively; they are
tales with a fresh sense of reality in not-so-real circumstances. Signs is
more of the same; an alien invasion tale that gets its strengths from the
one-two-punch of a "what if?" story, mixed with just the right
dose of reality. To me, this is another Shyamalan hit. Mel
Gibson stars as Graham Hess. Formerly the town reverend, he has lost his
faith ever since his wife died in a grisly car crash with a drunk driver.
How could he not see such a tragedy coming? Aren't there signs in the
world, or better yet, reasons for things happening the way they do...?
This is a philosophical question Hess must learn gradually, as strange occurrences
happen near his home, including but not limited to a bunch of strange crop
circles in the corn fields nearby. Now,
I know what you're thinking; "crop circles; what a pile of
hooey!" Yeah, that's what I thought too, before seeing this film.
However, that's similar to what I felt with those other films by
Shyamalan. The Sixth Sense could've been just another ghost tale,
and wasn't; Unbreakable could've been about a guy finding
he has super powers only to become---Mr. Unbreakable!---yet that
film was a
whole lot more. This film is more of the same, with not only
"signs" of aliens coming, but ---not to let any major spoilers out of the
bag--- they come...big time. However, instead of being just
another Independence Day flight of fancy, this is an ingenious tale
of the human spirit versus even the most unforeseen challenges. All things
happen for a reason, Hess soon learns...even if some things, like his
wife's death, are uncontrollable. Humankind can survive even the toughest
of pains, fears, and hardships. All you need is a little faith. The
film is long, I know, though that's because as always, Shyamalan doesn't
stop with just a back story to Hess. His whole family is three dimensional,
from his idiosyncratic daughter who won't drink any glass of water if its
been standing for too long, and his brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), who
lives with Hess' family after dropping out of professional baseball. Even
bit players are perfectly cast, and when Shyamalan himself offers a cameo
appearance, it is not for vanity as much as how well he could play the
role, all by himself. Regardless,
this film peeved some people. I think in particular, the ending peeved
them the most. Not to spoil anything for you, though suffice to say, I
loved the ending, which to me gets its impact from its simplicity.
Yes, its easy to compare such simplicity to the time Indiana Jones
defeated a Herculean adversary with two swords by merely shooting him dead, or the infamous War of
the Worlds which ended due to a simple virus strain that the aliens
never considered. However, I don't find this finale that
simplistic; not at all. It is just another part of the formulae, that all
things happen for a reason, and if you stop to understand the
"signs," you'll be fine. To be totally frank, the bigger flaw I
had with this film is the fate of the family dog. Aside from that, I had
no major complaints. Of
course, much like Shyamalan's other works, this film is not for everyone. The
Sixth Sense peeved a lot of ghost story zealots who wanted something
cheesy like Linda Blair spitting up split pea soup while spinning her head
around. Unbreakable similarly peeved a lot of comic book nuts who
insist everyone with super powers must wear bright red spandex.
Signs, similarly, is bound to peeve a lot of
Trekkies who insist all aliens are defeated with Phasers set to kill and Photon Torpedoes armed and ready and YAWN is
there ever anything new to be offered in sci-fi?!? Oh, yeah; that last
question is more like what I ask every year. If you ask something similar, Signs is for you. The
DVD: What does Shyamalan have
against commentaries? Once again, we have another fine movie from this
outstanding writer/director, yet no audio commentary option. However, what
we do have is more than worth the DVD over the VHS. For
one thing, I always like it when someone takes the time to divide the
typical, behind-the-scenes featurette into multiple parts. There are six
in all, ranging from just under 5 minutes, to a full 22 minutes. It's wise
of them to divide such segments, because combined they're nearly a full
hour; similar commentaries, if stopped near the middle, must be started
again from the very beginning if you come back to the later. As for the
behind the scenes footage itself, it's rather typical; people who loved
the film will find it very impressive; people who let the story go over
their head, will let this featurette footage pass them right by. That
said, I found the footage very impressive. More
worth a behind-the-scenes connoisseur's while are the amusing
storyboard-to-film comparisons, which are amusing if only because the
scene plays out at the same time the original storyboards are shown, in
inset. Two such scenes are shown this way; the scene where Graham tries to
see the alien in the pantry with the reflection of a knife, and the scene
where Graham and Merrill try to chase down the trespasser, not knowing yet
that said trespasser is an alien. Shyamalan
also offers another look at his short films he made as a child. This is a
now standard offering in all his DVD movies, and this is no exception.
Once again, he chooses a film close to the subject matter, where he acted
like he was a boy being stalked by a small alien. The alien is actually a
remote control toy with a covering on it to look more
"menacing"...to an 8 year old, anyway. It's amusing if only to
see the imagination of a young child destined for filmmaking. I only wish
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas would offer something similar; I know
they made similar films in their youth, though I've seen only snippets of
them in interviews. This is a cute addition, that should be considered by
other filmmakers with similar videos from childhood. Of
course, you want to know about the deleted scenes the most. Five are
offered, two of which are flashback sequences of their family prior to
Graham's wife's traffic accident. There is also a third story Graham gives
near the end of the movie, about he and Merrill's childhood. This is soon
after he told similar stories about Morgan (his son) and Bo (his
daughter), just after the aliens have broken into the attic. This scene,
at over 5 minutes, is the longest of the five and the most worth viewing,
since it further showcases how the aliens got in the house at all. The
remaining two scenes are more of Graham & Merrill earlier in the
story, and a quick shot of a dead bird confirming Merrill's claim that
there's a cloaked UFO somewhere above them, waiting for the time to
strike. In the end, I would want this
DVD even without the extras. I would like Shyamalan to offer an audio
commentary for his films, sooner or later, though that is my only gripe,
and it's a pretty small one. I personally felt this was one of the best
films in 2002. Sci-fi fans who like story over FX, should definitely give
it a look.
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