Signs

Dont go to watch Signs expecting a movie about Aliens.thats just a setting.for the story of a man who has abandoned faith(more reinforced by the fact that he was a priest before) and how he rediscovers it. The emphasis is on emotionnot thrill!

Dont go to watch Signs to be scaredit doesnt scare youjust gives you an eerie, creepy feeling! Dont expect fantastic happenings a la Independence Day! Its more about how one small, secluded family grapples with events alien to it.

Shyamalan uses the bait of Aliens (always a hot topic for speculation with the Americans) to draw one into the small world of Graham Hess, an ex priest and a farmer, who has abandoned priesthood 6 months earlier when his wife died in a car accident. Mysterious designer circles in his field start appearing in his field...setting the tone for an impending extra-terrestrial invasion of earth

The question which is thrown up repeatedly in the movie in different hues is: Do u believe? Signs doesnt refer only to Crop Circlesit refers more to all the pointerspremonitionsquirkssigns....to the futureto the final revelation!

The camerawork is brilliant.creeping along with the slowly unfolding taleand jolting you at the encounters

Mel Gibson is brilliant as the subdued ex-reverend. No twinkling eyes here: his lined visage is the perfect setting for the interplay of fear, incredulity and helplessness. Joaquin Phoenix is emerging as one of the most able supporting actors. The kids are astoundingly precocious.

It wasnt as brilliant as I expected Its not Sixth Sense...it gets heavy intermittentlya tad unbelievable also but it delivers a technically brilliant, engrossing account with some shivers thrown in!

One wonders if Shyamalan would be on equal footing when directing a movie not related to the supernatural. Also, he should take care to keep his extended mikes out of the framethey keep showing up in his movies.