The tyranist's thoughts
In three short years, Mr. Shyamalan has gone from an unknown to someone that you can count on. I have loved his movies and I believe I'm safe in saying that a lot of other people have too. Starting with The Sixth Sense, he introduced us to a new kind of movie. Movies that had the horror and the action and all the elements that popcorn theatre has always been made of, but they also had a human element. Mr. Shyamalan makes movies about people and about their struggles. He doesn't make mindless pap that can be watched in one sitting, absorbed, and left behind. Instead he makes movies that say something about who we are.
I went to Signs expecting an alien invasion movie and instead found something different. Signs is about one man's trial of faith. It just so happens that there's an alien invasion at the same time. When I say it like that, the plot seems unbelievable and unnecessarily complex, but it isn't. The film is effective and frightening, and true Shyamalan in that it delivers its message. They could have very easily gone down several different, much more mindless paths and instead stayed true to their story.
The alien effects are very, very well done and startling when they arrive. The small cast allows a lot more characterization than you might otherwise find. The script is excellent as always. Really the movie is very good.
Obviously you should see this if you liked his other movies, but I think you may want to check this one out even if you didn't. The tension in the movie is incredible and so well done that it deserves to be enjoyed. Oh, and I'd rush out to see this one in a packed theatre if you can.

Rish's Reviews
Tyranist and I have seen the last three M. Night Shyamalan films on opening weekend. The Sixth Sense we saw together, and were so blown away by the film (in my opinion, one of the five best films of the 90's), that we couldn't do Skulls for it. His next film, Unbreakable, we saw in the same theater, but an hour apart (we planned to meet, but I arrived late). And now, with Signs, we were just too far away to see it together. But we did do the Skulls together, and that's something.
Mel Gibson stars as a widower and ex-reverend who lives with his two children and brother out on a Pennsylvania farm. One morning, he wakes up to find an immense pattern in his cornfield, one of many crop circles appearing all over the world. It's not long before things on the farm take a turn for the strange, and he finds out the terrifying truth behind the crop pattern.
I really liked this movie. It's hard to not like an M. Night Shyamalan movie (granted, I haven't seen the one he did with Rosie O'Donnell, and I may never). People say he's the next Spielberg. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he's the best horror film director working today. His movies are consistently scarier (even Unbreakable) than anything released by anyone in modern film. It certainly was interesting to tell the story of a unprecedented global incident on such intimate, personal terms. That's pretty brave, really. I think Shyamalan likes to tell these personal stories within creepy circumstances. And he does it well.
Mel Gibson is one of my favourite actors, in many ways because of the inherent decency he seems to exude. Even in the dinner table scene which was probably supposed to stir us in anger against him, I was nodding along, agreeing with every word he said You have to admire a man who won't pray, even in the face of the end of the world. I admit, I would've buckled in that situation.
The aliens. From the first glimpse we see of them (and brilliantly, it is only glimpses for the vast majority of the film), they scared the pee out of me. Can I be so bold as to declare them the most frightening movie aliens ever? I woke up that night with nightmares so intense, I sat in silence, unsure if I was awake or asleep. Turns out I was awake, and the skittering, slithery sound I heard was just my sister shedding her skin. Whew!
Tyranist seemed to feel that the film wasn't so much a Horror or Sci-Fi piece as it was a film about regained faith and spiritual redemption. I can't really disagree with him, since he's so much smarter than me, but it was certainly the Horror/Sci-Fi elements that reached me, that stayed with me, and that drew me in the first place. To me, the film was a terrifying cross between Independence Day and Night of the Living Dead, though different in tone.
If I have anything negative to say about the movie it's that Shyamalan's appearance was distracting. I would prefer the director limit himself to cameo roles, rather than prominent ones (it brought me out of the film, whereas Mel Gibson ceased to be "Mel Gibson" five minutes in, and even Rory Culkin ceased to be "Macauley's other brother" after about half an hour, the whole time, I kept thinking of M. Night's character as "the director"). And if I have anything negative to say about Mr. Shyamalan himself (besides how hard it is to spell his last name), it's that I'm jealous of him. He has more talent and skill than I could ever hope to have, and worse, he's around the same age as tyranist's deformed older brother, who I always related to. I'll be first in line for Shyamalan's next film, even if it's a incestuous drug drama starring Fairuza Balk and Vin Diesel. Okay, maybe second in line.
I'd Recommend It To: Horror/Sci-Fi fans; make sure you see it in the theatre, if you can.
Note: I think I'll go back and re-review Sixth Sense to mention how much it scared me. The last time I saw it, I was so scared I had to sleep with the lights on. I once met Sam Raimi and told him how The Gift scared the crap out of me, and he seemed quite flattered by that. I wonder how Mr. Shyamalan would react to the knowledge that Signs scared me so badly that I sat in bed at 3:30 in the morning, staring at the dark, twitching and jumping at every hum or rattle in the room. I wish I could scare someone that much.
Besides the ladies I've asked to become Mrs. Rish Outfield, that is.