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Signs (Vista Series) Customer Reviews (88 - 90 of 120 Reviews)

bad
a big disappointment. poor story, poor directing, poor acting. i've never seen kids who acted so much like adults. the ambience was reminiscent of hitchcock, but any resemblance stops there. not worth even a rental, much less a purchase.

Shyalaman does it again . . .
Great film. Shyalaman wonderfully builds up the tension by directing this is though it could actually happen. He lets your imagination create the suspense (which it invariably will) by subscribing to "less is more" filmaking. Rather than revealing "them," he allows them to lurk just out of sight. Viewers catch only glimpses of some haunting presence.

As far as the DVD goes, I was a bit disappointed that this wasn't packaged as the earlier Vista series releases were, with a fold-out card-stock design. It looks out of place next to Tombstone, Unbreakable, and The Sixth Sense on my shelf. A cost-cutting measure perhaps? Each of those previous Vista series releases featured 2 discs, one containing the film and the other containing all the special features. I can only guess that the 1-disc release is another cost-cutting decision....

The DVD's cover is also a bit disappointing. I preferred the original movie poster art that depicted the crop signs leading up the the house in the distance. M. Night preferred this as well, as he reveals in the special features for Signs. He made sure there were not Mel Gibson shots like the studio wanted, because he reasoned (and rightly so) that this was not a movie about Mel, but a film that stands on its own. I like very much his views on this subject. I can't stand movies like this that feature a huge shot of one of the stars rather than a well-done piece of design the truly illustrates the movie. See covers from nearly any Criterion collection for a good example.

Great movie, good DVD.

Slick, suspenseful but a bit hyped
I waited months for this movie to come out. *Signs* is not a bad movie save for the fact that it is not all that creepy. Call it a sci-fi thriller rather than horror film, *Signs* is about how an unknown mysterious set of crop circles elaborate overnight in a field owned by Graham Hess (played by Mel Gibson). Graham is a minister who has lost his faith after his wife is killed. Joaquin Phoenix plays his brother Merrill who has just moved in to take care of Graham's two children. After sighting the crop circles in his cornfield, Graham quickly dismisses any potential threat and concludes it as a hoax, hoping to appease his disturbed children. A series of strange events including the reported sightings of UFOs on TV escalate Graham's alert about these mysterious crop circles. Rumor has it that it could be a new round of alien invasion. The movie has a slow start but quickly builds up the suspense. For a long time the suspense really has it on the audience that something horrible might creep up around the Graham's house. The scene in which Gibson and Phoenix roam about into the cornfield at night is creepy. Otherwise it's more like a sci fi thriller. Beautiful cinematography. 39/50 = 3.9 stars.

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