This
film was not what I was expecting to see.
As in the `The Sixth Sense,' writer/director M. Night Shyamalan
has produced a very griping and simplistic film
that entraps you and pulls you in, with out the
big budget special effects normally associated
with ET films. He even manages to
put a religious undertone in and a philosophical
sub plot, but that does at the end slightly give
the film a disappointing ending, but that
is the only flawed in this still extremely powerful and
enchanting film. Over all this year has
seen some of the best films for long time
hitting the box office, but I have to rate this
as a master piece.
The plot is very simplistic
with a family living on a farm suddenly finds mysterious crop circles in their
fields and has strange visits. Soon this turns
out to be sinister.... "It's Not Like They Didn't Warn Us."
as the tag line goes.
This film is not
for the faint hearted as you do get pulled in
and it does give you quite a shock in
places. The humor is very low key like the
hole plot, but that adds to the realism that the
film has. This is an almost perfect sci-fi film,
if it was not for the end and the low budget
costume. But I will not say more. M. Night Shyamalan
cast this film well and considering the lines
are not all that tasking Mel Gibson, who plays Graham Ness
produces one of his best acting sessions as an Catholic priest.
The plot tell us that he lost his faith after
loosing his wife in an accident and the story
takes off with him living with his two young children and his younger brother.
Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin)
the two children, both play an extremely realistic
role that adds to the tension. Patricia Kalember
who plays Colleen Hess, Graham brother, is
not as good, but that helps make the others shines
even brighter and draws you in further. As
the plot is very thin I will not tell you
more...
Over all this film
deserves 5 out of 5 so I have decided to give
that! If you have not seen a film yet
this year, YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It will leave you utterly spellbound.
Film Review by
Patrick Trollope
Graham (Mel Gibson, center) tries to calm his children, Morgan (Rory Culkin, left) and Bo (Abigail Breslin, right), who think that tin foil hats can stop aliens from reading their minds.
Mel Gibson as Father Graham Hess, Joaquin Phoenix as Merrill Hess, Cherry Jones as Officer Caroline Paski, Rory Culkin as Morgan Hess, Abigail Breslin as Bo Hess, Patricia Kalember as Colleen Hess, M. Night Shyamalan as Ray Reddy, D.V.M., Ted Sutton as SFC Cunningham
Merritt Wever as Tracey Abernathy, Lanny Flaherty as Mr. Nathan, Marion McCorry as Mrs. Nathan, Michael Showalter as Lionel Prichard, Kevin Pires as Brazilian Birthday Boy, Clifford David as Columbia University Professor and Rhonda Overby as Sarah Hughes
Film
review:- Signs.
