Ever been to a much anticipated movie, that you REALLY wanted to see and came out wondering WHY you went in the first place?  Well, it happened to me this time and I am sorry to say this picture was a huge disappointment.  I have been a Mel Gibson fan from the beginning and he was excellent in this picture.  The problem was not the acting, it was the directing and the flat story.  Yes, there were times when the suspense level was there and there were times when we knew something was going to jump out and scare the hell out of us.  As much as we waited for it, it never came and the climax was such a let down that I was scratching my head when the credits started to roll.

It's the story of the patterns or "Signs" that we have seen in fields all over the world in recent years.  Mel Gibson is a Preacher/Widower who is dealing with his own personal demons when the "Signs" appear on his rural Pennsylvania farm.  He is raising his two small kids and along with his brother (Joaquin Phoenix), he is faced with a life and death situation.  One of my main problems was the way he dealt with that situation.  Once he knew it was life-threatening, he never armed himself.  When he barricaded his family in the basement, he didn't even take knives, hammers or a baseball bat with them.  NOTHING!  They just go down there and wait to be........whatever (I won't give it away)   And the Director, M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable), seemed to be a little confused as to whether he wanted a science fiction picture or a whiney melodrama that went nowhere.  If HE didn't know, I KNOW I didn't know.  Also, I have always been a little leery of directors who have the Spike Lee syndrome and have to have speaking roles in their own pictures.  Hey, Mr. Director......DIRECT!  I would have liked to see the sci-fi part of the story take a more dominant role and the personal tragedy part used ONLY as a vehicle to set up the story.

It could have been a better picture as it had all the important parts in place.  It just seemed like the director didn't know what to do with them.

"Swing away!"

RECOMMENDATION:  There will be those who like it.  I didn't.  Save the money and wait to see it on cable, free, at a friend's house, AND THEN, ask for a refund!

TWO DISAPPOINTED, WISH I HAD MY MONEY BACK, THUMBS DOWN!!!

Movie Review © 2002 by Terry Anderson