Spoiler Alert! Signs (movie) review....

psycho- · 08-02-2002, 11:11 AM

...from an asian perspective.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002...ory/0000158741

It's being released in Taipei today too...which was yesterday...

Quote:

No sign of a thriller here
Since 'The Six Sense', M. Night Shyamalan is losing his sense of what suspenseful filmmaking is about

Film Notes
Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
With: Mel Gibson (Graham Hess), Joaquin Phoenix (Merrill Hess), Rory Culkin (Morgan), and Abigail Breslin (Bo)

Taiwan release: Today

Running time: 100 minutes

By Yu Sen-lun
STAFF REPORTER
Gaining his reputation for the psycho-thriller ghost story The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shaymalan has an ability to make a Hollywood genre film look unconventional. The Sixth Sense tells about the afterlife, about ghosts and people's inner spiritual world. It tells a story with a calm placid pace, dealing with topics containing metaphysical thoughts and with excellent acting. But all Shaymalan's special qualities seem to be draining away little by little, first in his following film, Unbreakable, and now in Signs.

Frankly, the experience of watching Signs is like a well-performed opera suddenly having its last scene dropped, or like a very intense soccer game where all shots miss and no one scores a goal. The atmosphere and the pace is still well-engaged, with awesome cinematography and the cut-in sounds and music, the performances of the actors are very capable, and tidbits in the story are interesting enough.

In degrees of fear, it is still a very scary film. But the film as a whole lacks a convincing ending which draws in all the plot lines of this thrilling story.

The story begins on a quiet night when Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) and his younger brother Merrill Hess (Joaquin Phoneix) are awaken by a strange noises outside their Pennsylvania house. Giant crop circles appear in their cornfield, driving the dog mad and causing Graham's two kids, Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin), to become hysterical. Bo keeps telling her father that the water is contaminated and demands to change glasses. Morgan begins to notice little sounds given out in the air. He uses a baby monitor to record them.

Like in Sixth Sense, the children see eerie things first. Graham's disbelief results partly from his recent grief. His wife, was killed in a car accident in the woods and afterwards he leaves his reverend position, feeling that "You are always on your own. There are no signs, no someone up there watching you."

As more and more oddities take place that even the cautious, reserved sheriff feels are fishy, the story moves into the second phase. There are the unusual, radar-proof lights appearing in the air of many cities in the world, and of course the crop circles. And then TV news broadcasts show a home video image of the alien, who walks creepily past an alley in Brazil, which shocks Merrill, who becomes obsessed with TV updates about aliens, as well as us, the audience, in front of silver screen.

Another nerve-gripping scene in the film is when Mel Gibson tries to see what the green-faced alien, who is locked in a room, looks like. He uses a knife, placing it on the threshold to see the alien's reflection. But suddenly...

Director M. Night Shaymalan did not intend to explain why and how the aliens come to Earth, nor how the world prepares to fight against them, so the film doesn't present itself to be another Independence Day or Mars Attack. Instead, it deals with people's minds, with each person's faith in the face of what looks to be doomsday.

"They will read our minds," the two kids and the uncle believe. They begin wearing funny hats made of aluminum foil to protect their heads. Here it's especially about Graham's faith in himself and the world.

What follows is a final show down, a human-alien fight in the small dark cellar and living room -- but perhaps it is the biggest flaw in the film. The scene is really not fascinating enough for the audience to forget about previous puzzles; about the alien, and about the reverend's faith, the accident involving his wife, and those crop circles.

psycho- · 08-02-2002, 11:20 AM

They also have this article about the new "Doraemon" movie

http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002...ory/0000158740

MadCool · 08-02-2002, 09:16 PM

Saw it today. I thought the movie was pretty good. But only if you didn't really know what it was about. That article gave away a lot of it.

kame · 08-03-2002, 06:10 PM

Wheeeww...

Alomost read the the taipei review....

come on people ya gotta be careful....almost ruined my 'Sign' experience/...

oblongmelon · 08-04-2002, 08:22 PM

I saw it today..IT'S MEL FOR CRYING OUT LOUD..it was GREAT!!!!

sychen56 · 08-05-2002, 06:44 PM

the movie was well worth my $9 bucks, but I dont know if it was well worth $9 bucks pissin my pants....twice..

i6s1 · 08-05-2002, 10:45 PM

That review gave a bit of the ending away.. Could we have a spoiler warning in the title?

08-02-2002, 09:16 PM	#3
MadCool Commander Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: New York City Posts: 1,207	Saw it today. I thought the movie was pretty good. But only if you didn't really know what it was about. That article gave away a lot of it. __________________ Check out the MadCool Network! 411Seek: Popular Portal and PPC Search Engine KKDiscount: Oriental Superstore FreeLanceCenter: Buy or Provide FreeLance work @ Your Price! 123Designing: Webmaster Resource Supersite CupidContact.com: Dating Site with Web Cam, Audio & Video Greetings, and much more!

08-05-2002, 10:45 PM	#7
i6s1 Lieutenant Commander Join Date: Feb 2000 Location: Vancouver Posts: 905	That review gave a bit of the ending away.. Could we have a spoiler warning in the title? __________________ YVAN EHT NIOJ

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08-02-2002, 11:20 AM	#2
psycho- Rear Admiral Lower Half Join Date: Feb 2000 Location: Del Mar, CA Posts: 2,261	They also have this article about the new "Doraemon" movie http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002...ory/0000158740

08-03-2002, 06:10 PM	#4
kame Lieutenant Commander Join Date: Jun 2000 Posts: 532	Wheeeww... Alomost read the the taipei review.... come on people ya gotta be careful....almost ruined my 'Sign' experience/...

08-04-2002, 08:22 PM	#5
oblongmelon Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: In a nutshell Posts: 9,678	I saw it today..IT'S MEL FOR CRYING OUT LOUD..it was GREAT!!!!

08-05-2002, 06:44 PM	#6
sychen56 Ensign Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 33	the movie was well worth my $9 bucks, but I dont know if it was well worth $9 bucks pissin my pants....twice..

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