Signs (2002)

Writer/Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Stars: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan

Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan has taken an interesting approach to the story of a worldwide alien invasion.

 

He keeps the focus tight on the experience of a single family that lives next to one of the fields where crop circles have been appearing.

 

We stay with this family and never learn anything that they don't know.

 

This makes for a very mysterious story.

 

No current filmmaker is better at creating an atmosphere of tension and dread than Shyamalan at his best. 

Unfortunately, there is an ongoing theme about faith and the connections between seemingly unconnected events that is not well integrated into the story; it struck me as being rather contrived. 

Furthermore, the resolution is simply dreadful.

 

Suffice it to say that it is difficult to imagine any species evolving with the weakness that these aliens display at the end of the film.

 

Despite these flaws, Shyamalan's skill and artistry kept me on the edge of my seat during most of the story.