(5/11/2003) I bought "Signs" recently, hoping for some kind of emotional impact. Well, I wasn't disappointed at all, there was plenty of emotional resonance going on.... mostly from feeling anger that I'd just dropped my hard-earned money on a piece of celluloid crap.

Maybe that's a bit too strong; the first hour or so of the movie is great, Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix are genuinely good throughout. There are even a few laughs here and there. However, I just didn't feel the movie in my gut like I did with "Unbreakable" and, to a lesser extent, "The Sixth Sense". I thought the whole "losing faith over loss of a loved one" angle was a little overwrought, and it's been done before much better. Around the halfway point, the movie started to pick up again, and there were a handful of good shocks. Then in the last 15 minutes or so, everything went completely out the window. I won't ruin the ending for people who haven't seen it yet, but I thought it bit the hard one. A star for Mel Gibson, a star for Joaquin Phoenix, a star for not completely sucking, and a half star for those funny foil hats. :) ***1/2 out of 5

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Created May 05, 2009 at 10:25pm • Submit your own review...