Overview
This amazing, edge of your seat thriller is set in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The entire story revolves around the mysterious appearance of a 500-foot geometrical design, which includes circles, triangles, and lines etched into the crops of a family farm. Mel Gibson is Graham Hess, a former minister and widower who makes it his personal mission to find the meaning and truth behind this trilling mystery. Joaquin Phoenix teams up with Gibson as Merrill Hess, who is not only Graham's younger brother, but a former minor league baseball star to boot. Graham’s children are played by Rory Culkin (younger brother of Macauley Culkin) and Abigail Breslin, as Morgan and Bo Hess. Combine great actors and actresses, as well as one of the most amazing directors to hit Hollywood in M. Night Shyamalan, and you’ll quickly see why Signs is the movie of the summer, and quite possibly movie of the year.

Review
This is by far one of the toughest movies to review, simply because there must be a balance between informing the reader of what happened without giving away the story. M. Night Shyamalan is probably the best director / writer out there as far as mystery, thriller, and intrigue films go. I doubt we’ll see him directing a movie such as XXX or even Indiana Jones IV. He is far more cerebral than that. Shyamalan doesn’t like making movies that end without keeping you guessing the whole way home. If you’re not up for a puzzle, don’t bother seeing any of his movies; However, if you like to use your mind a bit, you’ll crave his masterpieces and future films even more. I have a feeling that M. Night Shyamalan could turn a kid’s book such as charlotte’s web into a box office smash, just with the way he tells the story.

Shyamalan always seems to find a way to inject humor into every movie he makes, even if it is just a brief moment of it. There are some very funny moments in this movie, one that is surely to top the list of Oscar nominees. If you liked M. Night Shyamalan’s the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, you’ll instantly be engrossed in Signs.

The story zeroes in on the Hess family and the circumstances they have been through. The Hess family is made up of Graham (Mel Gibson), his younger brother, Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), and Graham’s two young children, Bo (Abigail Breslin) and Morgan (Rory Culkin). The family history, so to speak, is shown to you in brief clips throughout the movie, so you piece them together and understand the dynamics of the family even better by the end of the film. The past of the Hess family still haunts them, a past that they must come to grips with if they are to be able to function on a daily basis…and even more so during one of the most important times of their lives.

Amidst the pain the Hess family is going through, they are thrown another twist. In their own backyard the unexplainable phenomena known as crop circles appear in the family’s cornfields. No one knows how they got there, they are just there. When viewed from the air, it is shown that these massive etchings in the countryside would be impossible to duplicate with both the size and precision that these were done in…as well as time. Not even a group of 20 men could have done this in a hard nights work, using “crop circle tools” such as a board and rope that would be used to press the corn down into the pattern they desire. Graham passes it off as a hoax that some locals pulled, and denies that it was anything else and tries to get on with his agonizing life. Soon enough, however, “someone out there” lets Graham and his family know that they are part of something much bigger when even more crop circles appear in hundreds of other places around the globe. Many people that I have spoken with that have seen the film say that the underlying theme is faith, but i disagree. Although it may be part of the theme, I think perseverance is the main theme, the struggle of man, not only with the world, but with himself. Each main character in this movie has something they struggle with, and how they deal with their own issues at hand show what kind of character they are made of.

Acting
In Shyamalan’s two previous blockbuster hits, he’s gone with Bruce Willis as his lead man. You’ll quickly see that choosing Mel Gibson was no mistake. Do i think that Willis could have pulled off the character the way Gibson did? Of course i do, simply because in Shyamalan’s previous movies he has cast someone that (character-wise) was more reserved and kept to themselves. If you’ve seen Gibson in many of his other movies, you know that this isn’t the typical character type he takes on. Yet, knowing just that, you can easily see why Gibson’s performance can get him an Oscar with ease. Gibson plays the character of Graham, who is quiet, reserved, and tends to seem introverted. As the movie progresses, you see that he is actually emotionally scarred by past events in his life, and that is not his normal personality. How he deals with these scars speaks volume about his character, as he is tested at every turn.

Shyamalan’s movies tend to revolve around child actors, in combination with a strong lead character. This movie is no different. As Haley Joel Osment was praised for his performance in Sixth Sense, so shall Rory Culkin (youngest brother of Macauley Culkin) and Abigail Breslin. You can see that both of these child actors are quickly making a name for themselves, following in the footsteps of other phenomenal child actors. I was very impressed with their performances, and expect big things from both of them in the near future.

Probably my favorite character in the entire movie was that of Merrill, who was played by Joaquin Phoenix. Right of the bat, one could label him as the most sympathetic character in the entire film. Phoenix is used to this role, as he played a similar role in the movie Gladiator, a role where you feel very sympathetic towards the character and what he or she is going through in the movie. What made Merrill my favorite character was his strong devotion towards his family, as well as his mindset of being the person that he wants to be, not caring what others think of him. These are characteristics that strong individuals have. His place in the house, as well as the world, is a unique one, it’s a place that not many people would take, regardless of the situation…which makes his character that more amazing.

Directing
Shyamalan relies heavily upon mood in his films. He creates characters that people can relate to, he invents circumstances that are like our every day lives, and he has this fantastic ability to create the feelings and moods in the environment and atmosphere that he creates. Shyamalan loves scaring people, he is out to thrill people, not gross them out like chop shop horror flicks. Those movies have their place, but an exceptional director will create this sense of thrill and anticipation in the viewers mind. That is what Shyamalan does. From what I have heard, Shyamalan is somewhat of a perfectionist, someone that knows what he wants and will do what it takes to get that shot perfect, to get this lighting the way he sees it in his mind’s eye. That is what separates a good director from a legendary director. In each film, Shyamalan creates an atmosphere that sucks the viewer in, it intrigues them, giving them a sense of realism. In Sixth Sense, it was both the Osment’s house, as well as Willis’ house. In Unbreakable, it was again, Willis’ house. In Signs, it was the famous cornfields that can be seen throughout the film and the trailers. Wherever Shyamalan takes you on your journey, it’s always feels like it is the ride of your life. that is what a pure storyteller can do. Sadly, there aren’t many storytellers around anymore.

Final Thoughts
I could go on and on about how amazingly vivid, surreal, and thrilling this film is, but I feel that it would take away from the experience, and I won’t do that. I have yet to meet someone that was disappointed with this film. That said, you’ll have to see Signs and be the judge for yourself to see if it was worth the praise and the hype.

Hyndsy Rating: 4 Out Of 5 Planets
 

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