M. Night Shyamalan is an interesting director who took a turn toward mediocrity somewhere around The Village or perhaps Lady In the Water. And while The Happening seems to be a step in the right direction, only a movie like Signs is able to remind you why he was so well-thought-of to begin with.
A solid realization of his filmic themes of isolation and paranoia, Signs is a classic film featuring a pre-Passion of the Christ Mel Gibson and a pre-Walk the Line Joaquin Phoenix in a movie aimed directly at the Art Bell conspiracy crowd and presupposes, in a War of the Worlds-style vein, what it might be like if crop circles really were a precursor of an alien invasion. The movie did well enough when released in the wake of September 11 that it grossed enough to enable the cast to afford Outer Banks rentals.
The Blu-Ray format restores some of the big-screen detail to the movie that got lost in translation to the small-screen, standard-resolution TV format when the flick first appeared on DVD. There are, unfortunately, no new extras in this package, but the standard extras that came with the original DVD are present in this Blu-Ray package as well.
The quality of the transfer is quite good and displays with no noticeable issues; my biggest problem with the presentation is that the flick features one of those annoying “downloading is stealing” ads that are so unnecessary, since, if you were downloading the movie, you’d never see the ad to begin with. Whatever.
One of the main underlying themes of Signs is the theme of faith; how the graphic and tragic death of his wife draws Mel Gibson’s character away from his faith, while the invasion improbably restores it. I say improbably because you have to see the entire movie, including the somewhat surprising resolution, to really appreciate how an alien invasion could restore faith to a Bible-preaching pastor.
One of Mad Mel’s more understated performances in years, M. Night Shyamalan drew greatness out of his cast and prepared Joaquin Phoenix for the next phase of his career on his rise to stardom. The film is a classic suspense flick and has held up well since it debuted in 2001. Worth owning, despite sporting no new extra features.
