August 05, 2002 - 2:10 pm
signs language
"Sign, sign, everywhere a sign/
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind..."
"Signs," The Five Man Electrical Band.
So,
Friday night, Amanda's parents, she and I all went to see M. Night Shyamalan's Signs. It was very good, but I'm still trying to decide if I'd slap a "Great" label on it. It definitely had its moments (the basement, the TV...if you've seen it, you know what I mean), but I'm still a little uneasy about the ending.
Or, rather, the lack thereof.
See, the buildup is marvelous. The family feels real, and it really doesn't matter if there are aliens or not. The story is about the family, not the apparent extra-terrestrial invasion. But I'm still waiting for the actual climax. I don't know why, but the scene shortly before the actual climax was much more suspenseful. Man, it's hard to talk about this without giving away spoilers. Argh.
At least it wasn't as bad as A.I. Sheesh, that movie his it's climax about a half hour before the movie actually ended. That was bad. I love the flick, but it just goes on and on and on...
So let me say I give Signs two thumbs up and a puzzled smile. I understand what Shyamalan is trying to do with the last few minutes of the film, but I'm just not sure he succeeds.
The rest of Signs, though, is brilliant, although nothing new. He borrows from several other movies, but sometimes that's not such a bad thing. From foolishly browsing some of the comments on the Yahoo! message boards (The Home of Nitwits and Morons(tm)), it's amazingly apparent how most people just didn't get it. Like I said, the movie is about the family, more specifically, Mel Gibson's character. It's not Men In Black III or Mars Attacks Part Deux.
It's a lot like Changing Lanes. I was unfortunate enough to catch that flick with a bunch of young teenagers who were suckered into seeing it through the TV spots and trailers, which made it out to be a revenge/action movie with two charismatic leads. In actuality, it was a wonderful character piece in which neither character is "right," leading to a highly dramatic confrontation. The youngsters left the theater grumbling about what a "stupid" movie it was.
On the contrary.
It was most definitely a "smart" movie, but then again, that's probably why they didn't like it. Give 'em a few years, and cross your fingers.
