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    		•

    FILMS

    Signs (2002)
  • Starring Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Cherry Jones, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Patricia Kalember, M. Night Shyamalan

  • Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

    • I'm a big proponent of single-vision or creator-owned entertainment. One person with one complete story. You can't miss. Many of my favorite films and comics are the product of one person (or at least the lion's share of the work was done by an individual). Here are a few examples: Babylon 5, The Sixth Sense, Reservoir Dogs, Transmetropolitan, The Preacher, and The Sandman.

    I'm not naive enough to think that no one helped J. Michael Straczynski, Quentin Tarantino, Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis, or Neil Gaiman in their respective enterprises—obviously they had a some help. No man is an island, and all of that. But at the end of the day, the aforementioned men have their name on the byline. They are the ones who get punished if the product is bad, and praised if it's good.

    I'm not saying that group efforts can't be good—because good movies come out all the time, many of them are adaptations of books and have gone through two or three scriptwriters and directors. It is important to note, however, that Art By Committee is more inclined to become homogenized, marginalized, and turned into Crap By Committee. Too many cooks in the kitchen, right?

    So where am I going with all of this? Right here. Signs rocks. M. Night Shyamalan rocks. This is the third film Shyamalan has made, and it's the third film of his that I absolutely love. The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were spectacular—and then he comes at us with a familiar premise of alien invasion and puts a spin on it that makes the genre new again.

    Signs is the story of a preacher (Gibson) who's lost his faith, and who is losing connection with his family, and, oh yeah, the aliens are on their way. Sounds a little hokey, but this film is immensely enjoyable. Shyamalan has a way of making the audience believe an concept that, if you actually said it out loud, would make you sound loony.

    I don't want to give too much of this movie away, because there are moments that should be experienced firsthand, not read through an online review, so....

    Warning: Spoilers ahead.

    The one complaint (and it's a very small one) I have about Signs is Shyamalan himself. In his two previous films he had cameo roles—the prerogative of every director. I had no problem with that. But in this film, he assigns himself not only speaking lines, but the character that has an incredible effect on Gibson's character's life. In theory, I don't have a problem with this either, because for a director/writer, Shyamalan is a damn fine actor. There's a scene where Shyamalan and Gibson come face-to-face and I felt that I spent more time thinking "Hey, there's the director!" than about what was happening in that moment of film. He gets full marks for drama and intensity, but I have to say it was distracting for me. This, however, is probably just a personal thing. I've heard from friends that they had no problem with Shyamalan's scene.

    Back when the Signs publicity machine was rocking and rolling a few weeks before this film hit the theaters I heard an interview with Shyamalan speaking about why he chose Mel Gibson for this role. Shyamalan said when he was a teenager he saw Lethal Weapon. It was supposed to be an action movie and there was this guy (Gibson) delivering these wonderful moments of drama that had no business in this action movie...and Shyamalan loved it. I have to agree with this. Good choice, Night.

    I fear for the future. I'm afraid that people are going to start approaching Shyamalan's films like they would a Where's Waldo book, in that, they'll be scrutinizing the plot, looking closely at the screen, moreso than they normally would. They want to see if they can guess the "twist ending" and not "get gotten" by the director. "Oh, I saw that coming!" they'll say. People love to say they saw it coming. I don't know why. But they do. I love Shyamalan's endings, but I hope he doesn't become known as the Director Who Does Twist Endings. Because then he'll shift from being known as a good writer to a good gimmick. And good gimmicks don't last long. (For the record, I don't actually see this happening, but just in case it does, I thought I'd mention that "I saw it coming.")

    For the record: M. Night Shyamalan has become one of those writers who I trust implicitly with my movie-going dollar and hours of free-time allotted for entertainment. Like Straczynski, Gaiman, and a few others, I know he will not let me down. No need to send adverts my way, I'm already planning to see the next five Shyamalan films.