Rich On Signs

Before I applied for the job here on reception, I went to university and took an eight-year course in Ufology. I achieved fame and notoriety for my thesis on real-life aliens and how Hollywood has become the propagandist means by which other-worldly beings are portrayed.

For instance, the initial communications between the US government and the Martians didn't go too well.

After a brief luncheon meeting in the early Eighties, the various world leaders started getting along with the freaks from beyond. Subsequently Starman and Mac And Me were produced to get us used to the idea of living together.

The president and the alien

Alas, it appears things have gone a little sour once more. President Bush was having a drink with his alien counterpart last year and ended up throwing up on his shoes. This disturbed the alien president and a guerrilla war broke out. Now M Night Shyamalan has been drafted in to prepare us for the enemy once more with new movie Signs.

Having helped Bruce Willis flex his acting muscles in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, it's Mel Gibson's turn to show what he can do as Shyamalan coaxes another set of fine performances from his cast.

In this, his third (fifth really, but the first two relatively poor efforts have been rather conveniently forgotten) movie, Gibson plays Father Graham Hess, a dad-of-two whose wife was killed in a car accident six months earlier.

A kind of Independence Day

Living on a crop farm with his brother, Joaquin Phoenix's Merrill, the family's already troubled world is turned upside-down after they discover an elaborate set of crop circles in the surrounding fields. Their initial scepticism turns to fear but it would be wrong for me to tell you why¿

Macaulay Culkin's younger brother, Rory, and the even younger Abigail Breslin are frighteningly like the baby-faced 33-year-old Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense - in fact, they're so worldly-wise, it's a wonder they even cared about the aliens at all.

A kind of Independence Day, told entirely from the point of view of people who aren't fighter pilots or presidents, Signs is another quality piece of story-telling from Shyamalan.

Pillsbury Doughboy twists

But it's not totally about aliens. There's a major balancing act going on as Shyamalan deals with one man's struggle to keep his faith as his family faces full-on collapse, forcing them (and indeed us) to question whether everything that happens in the world is part of a greater plan or merely coincidence.

I was personally really happy to watch a film that has the balls to put the characters' relationships ahead of thrills and spills. But from what I could gauge, the people around me wanted more aliens and were a little annoyed that Gibson was deep in conversation with his daughter rather than looking for a weapon to batter the aliens.

Once you know you're watching the latest from the man whose films twist more than the Pillsbury Doughboy, you expect it in every film. The best thing about Signs is not ever knowing what's about to happen. As with each of my columns, I refuse to spoil the cinematic experience.

Actors on strings

But I have to say Signs is not up to Shyamalan's previous efforts, and if he's going to become the new Spielberg, as tipped, he needs to start branching out.

Actors apparently love to work with him but turn into little more than puppets on strings in stories Shyamalan has written, directed and produced. I enjoy his style but it's unarguable that going to watch Signs is a Shyamalan experience, not a Mel Gibson or an Alien one.

As a thriller, it will make you jump. Shyamalan can, after all, make a shadow spilling out from under a doorway ridiculously creepy. As a drama it's a little lame but essentially clever when you realise what's going on. As a cinematic encounter, it only comes close. But it is only the third of his kind.

Rich
Sky Unit 2 Reception
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