Is Signs as Good as I Remember? (No.)
Maybe I had a M. Night Shyamalan phase, or maybe it is consequence of the time, but similarly to my Lady in the Water obsession, a group of friends and I had a phase over the movie, Signs. Unfortunately, I was really into the movie, and I’ve seen it a handful of times, including during once birthday party, where a friend was so startled by a jump-scare, she spilled an entire bottle of gatorade on four other friends and herself. In my attempt to resurrect mlog after sporadic updating for a few months, it is time to finally see if this 2002 alien classic holds up.
The short answer? It’s alright.
Signs lacks an engaging plot. The concept of aliens attacking the world is nothing new, but still is an entertaining thriller (to some degree). However, the character quirks that obviously save the day makes the movie fall flat. Shyamalan wants his movie to be taken seriously, and it could be taken seriously, though, the simplicity of it cheapens the experience. There are tons of “tasteful” alien movies, like Arrival, that have strong characters, a common coming of aliens, and strong pacing of suspense, that Signs overall lacks.
It’s a dead give away, as soon as each little thing about each character is introduced, that one can easily tell that it will come handy into the movie. Because it is so blatantly obvious, it takes away from the creation and depth of the character. I’m not really a fan of Arrival but at least Amy Adam’s character’s stubbornness is what ultimately makes her human, instead of a plot device. Each of the characters in Signs only exists to further the plot. One could argue that a character obviously exists to move the plot along, however, in Signs it’s so blatantly obvious that I found myself so annoyed by Mel Gibson’s wife’s last words being “Swing away,” that I couldn’t even find myself to care that the humans “win.”
Touchstone Pictures
Besides exhausting characters, there was nothing exceptional about the plot. Most of the movie is about personal reflection and fear instead of aliens attacking. If the movie was made by a different director and in 2018, it'd probably end up being a found footage film or something that has a limited view point, because the suspense of the unknown is what so many people are about these days, especially when it comes to alien movies. Once again, Shyamalan hoped that the charming quirkiness of his characters would move along his plot, similar to how he attempted in Lady in the Water but in reality, it made the movie harder to watch. Maybe Shyamalan should lure in fans with appropriate story telling, not blatantly obvious dilemmas and answers; this isn’t a children’s story.
Overall, Signs, with some work, could have been decent if written by a different person. I have no idea why I was so obsessed with it when I was younger, but I was also into Lady in the Water, so maybe it was just a quirky character thing. For a child, it’s fun, adult, and exciting. For an an actual adult, who watches movies regularly, it’s something to stare at and not question for an hour and forty-five minutes.
