Signs

2002
PG-13
1h 46m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

395K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:35

Alien Invasion Drama Mystery Sci-Fi Thriller

A widowed former reverend living with his children and brother on a Pennsylvania farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields, which suggests something more frightening to come.A widowed former reverend living with his children and brother on a Pennsylvania farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields, which suggests something more frightening to come.A widowed former reverend living with his children and brother on a Pennsylvania farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields, which suggests something more frightening to come.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

395K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

780

587

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 34 nominations

Trivia
Joaquin Phoenix replaced Mark Ruffalo, who had to pull out of the film due to a brain tumor. It was later found to be benign.

Goofs
They nail boards on the outside of inward-opening doors. Obviously this isn't going to prevent the doors from being opened, but anything is better than nothing and they're panicking anyway. Moreover, when Merrill asks Graham how they will know if boarding the windows will work, Graham replies, "Because they seem to have trouble with pantry doors". Graham is implying that if the aliens have trouble with pantry doors, boarding them can only help. Doing so also may give everyone, especially the children, a sense of hope and/or security.

Quotes
Graham Hess: People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?

Crazy credits
The end credits are black text that rolls over a black screen with a illuminated blue circle in the middle, instead of the traditional white text on a flat black background.

Alternate versions
There is actually an alternative version of this movie, which had different noises for the aliens, prior to release. The noises did not make into the final product. The aliens sounded more demonic than the mostly (although equally scary) alien noises they ended up having. It alone could have gotten the movie an R on the basis of "terror" alone. It was mostly edited out to keep the movie from being too dark, although some of the things about the aliens were demonic, and kept in the movie. "Signs" got away with a lot for a PG-13 movie. To find them, via the comments, go to the Youtube video to the "Signs" trailer, courtesy of user Rob Jackson (the Rotten Videos group's copy of the video; just type "Signs 2002 trailer Rotten Videos," and look for Rob Jackson's comments, they have the links to some of the clips from that version; courtesy of user Kaylin Starlight).

Connections
Edited into Signs: Deleted Scenes (2003)

User reviews2.5K

Review

Featured review

There are those who believe and those who do not, what are you?

My thoughts on M. Night Shyamalan's SIGNS

Rated: PG (Canada), PG-13 (U.S.)

Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Kulkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones and M Night Shayamalan

"Daddy there's a monster beside my bed, can I have a glass of water?"

When Graham (Mel Gibson) and Merill Hess (Joaquin Phoenix) discover 50 ft circle and square shapes carved in their crops, the two try and find out the truth behind what is going on. However, what Graham learns soon is that the battle he will soon be facing is not that of extra terrestrial beings but that within his own self.

In facing a universal theme of life on other planets, Shyamalan's handling is different from your ordinary type of supernatural movie. This is because the underlying theme of this movie is not aliens, but in fact, it is faith. Faith in something larger, faith of miracles, faith that nothing in this life is coincidental and everything happens for a reason. The theme of this movie is not survival of outer forces rather than survival of internal and seemingly more powerful than what is even happening outside.

There is not a single movie that is out there which scares the viewer on a level of things they are NOT seeing rather than what they do see. It does not deserve to be classified in any category because this film is in a league of its own. The base of supernatural and extra terrestrial beings in this case forms the base for human self exploration and finding who they truly are.

PERFORMANCES

In all sequences, Shyamalan concentrates on character development and even from the first scene, we seemingly have a look into the world of a man, who is emotionally wounded, and yet silent and powerful. Shyamalan has gone with Mel Gibson to play the title role, which some fans of M. Night would have rather gone with Bruce Willis who has played the quiter type role in Sixth Sense and even starred in Shyamalan's "Unbreakable". However, from the very first frame, you can see that Gibson becomes the role and lives through the role. In terms of his performance, the transformation he goes through the entire frame of the movie really is a true testament to the powerful skill that this actor embodies. In many scenes, his eyes do the talking, and it takes a powerful director to really capitalize on what Gibson does in this type of role.

Joaquin Phoenix, playing Graham's brother Merill, is a powerful support in the movie. His character gains a lot of sympathy. Even as he is trying to find his place in the world, his support for his family is unwavering, making this role one of the most sympathetic and yet powerful roles the talented actor has ever faced.

Once again, Shyamalan gets unbelievably powerful performances from his child artistes in this movie. Rory Culkin, playing Graham's son in the movie, as well as Abigial Breslin, give such emotion filled performances that it really surprises us that Shyamalan can extract performances of this calibre from them.

Even Cherry Jones, who plays the local police officer, puts in a realistic and heartfelt performance as the local police officer in Graham's community.

Finally, Shyamalan himself makes a mark in the film. His role is an essential one and yet does not require many scenes. Shyamalan pulls them off with full ease and power.

DIRECTION/SCREENPLAY

If you try and compare "Signs" to any previous movies you may be able to find some ground from this movie in Shyamalan's first movie, "The Sixth Sense". However, in terms of comparisons, this is where they end. Shyamalan knows how to create and move in terms of environment, which is very important for all his movies. Shyamalan's direction is powerful and really gets under the skin of the characters.

Being a thriller, Shyamalan has used an older technique, where he uses comedy to offset a particular mood, even in the gravest of scenes. Shyamalan pulls this off extremely well, even as the screenplay pulls into frightening moments. It takes a brilliant filmmaker to do something like this even when the mood of the scene is totally contrasting to that of what the audience is experiencing.

Its something refreshing to see a brand new director like Shyamalan using the rules of filmmaking that have been forgotten by many of the newer filmmakers these days into making something so powerful and so refreshingly different for the summer. While many new filmmakers base their movies on subjects that really don't take any risks, Shyamalan has made a seemingly new genre, one of self exploration and discovery while in the face of fear or adversity. There is no other film like this one, as it takes two genres and really powers itself into making a seemingly hard hitting combination.

Even the title of the film has a meaning, as the signs are everywhere. There are subtle and hidden messages everywhere, from the scene where Merill is in the Army office and the Recruiter is speaking, or the flashback sequences which Mel Gibson has of a particular incident in his life.

OVERALL EFFECT

This film is unlike any other film to have ever come out in the genre of supernatural thriller or drama. Its something that lets you leave the cinema thinking truly that in this life there are no coincidences and things happen for a reason. As Gibson said in the film, there are two kinds of people. There are those who believe that everything happens for a reason and that we are not alone; and there are those who believe that we live in metaphysical solitude. There are people with faith and without it. He now has to figure out which group he belongs to, and so he does in the chilling climax.

The film is one of the most powerful pieces of cinema I have witnessed and simply put is a much watch.

Rating: 10 out of 10