Ingenuity? No Sign of it Here

by Ari Hoffman

Newsweek dubbed him the “next Steven Spielberg.”  His 1999 film, “The Sixth Sense,” was a runaway success.  But director M. Night Shyamalan’s latest sci-fi epic is, despite the excellent performances of its stars – like Mel Gibson – a major disappointment.  “Signs” constitutes a perfect example of a good idea turned bad by Hollywood “ingenuity.”

Gibson plays Graham Hess, a retired Christian minister who discovers mysterious crop circles in his Pennsylvanian cornfield.  Hess, whose faith has seriously diminished as a result of the recent death of his wife, thinks initially that the crop circles are a hoax, but his family believes they were caused by extraterrestrials.  Hess’s children, Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin) pursue their extraterrestrial impulse and, along the way, convince their uncle Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix) of the existence of aliens.  Then, UFO’s invading the skies all over the planet start to convince Hess as well that the shadows he saw on his property may actually be aliens after all, not presumed local vandals.

If you’ve seen director Shyamalan’s other films, including “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable,” you’ll instantly pick up on his all too familiar style of directing – which involves drawing out nearly every second of the movie intolerably.  His art of focusing a camera on a door for ten seconds, before an actor even steps through it, is nine seconds too long; the director’s intent may have been to draw out suspense, but instead he draws out fidgeting, yawns, and the occasional snore.

While Shyamalan tries to invoke the flawless tradition of Hitchcock, he’s pretty  unsuccessful.  For instance, James Newton Howard’s score seems more like a bland “Psycho” knockoff than an original piece of music.  And since the scenes are so drawn out, every “surprise” is more tedious than shocking.  To his credit, however, Shyamalan does capture Hitchcock’s essence in his use of shadows and the sudden appearance of single body parts, such as arms and legs, to spook the audience. Unfortunately, though, Shyamalan’s use of CGI (Computer Graphic Imaging), to show a full alien at the climax of the movie, destroys whatever suspense wasn’t already displaced by boredom.  The creature’s pitifully phony outfit also deviates drastically from the religiously followed tactic of shocks accomplished with puppetry and the cinematic art of inspiring fear through what is not seen rather than through what is revealed.

The script is also replete with Christian undertones that are so obvious they seem more like a televangelist than a subtle color of the movie. Among others, these undertones include: Graham’s wife dying against a tree looking more like a female version of Jesus than a woman who was just hit by a car; a television reporter’s mention of three Middle Eastern tribes – the trinity – learning how to defeat aliens; water being the alien’s achiles heal, a glaring holy water reference; and children saving the world from the apocalypse.  And then, of course, there are the discursive discussions of faith throughout the movie that have a solid Christian slant.

The one saving grace of “Signs” though is the performances of its stars.  The skepticism and concomitant fear with which Gibson imbues his character appear so real and profound that they set the stage for the whole film.  As Hess’s two children, the precocious Culkin and Breslin exude an innocence and perspicacity that are so convincing and engrossing that the audience will be rooting for them from beginning to end.  Finally, Phoenix’s subtle sarcasm and humor demonstrate the phenomenal actor that he truly is.  The only weak actor was Shyamalan himself, in his cameo as the involuntary murderer of Graham’s wife, who seems more like a small child reciting his scripted line off a page.

This movie is one to avoid, but if you feel inclined to see it anyway, save your ten dollars and watch it on HBO.