SIGNS Analyzed & Explained - Movie Review

signs is a very special film for me some viewers may know it's the film that made me who I am today when it came out in 2002 I was only 14 years old and I remember my first visit to see it very vividly it was the first time I really started to think seriously about film up until that point I hadn't really thought about the art of filmmaking Sainz was the film that sparked the desire that led to a purchase of a camera many short films and a love of movies that hasn't left me to this day I firmly believe that if I hadn't seen signs on that specific day I wouldn't be talking to you guys right now strangely the film deals with a very similar message on coincidence and fate this will be my fifth installment in my series of analyzed movie reviews in the past I've covered Prometheus Drive a good day to die hard and only God forgives signs is by far my most requested so sit tight grab some popcorn and let's reminisce to a time when the name M night Shyamalan made people shiver with excitement now and just makes people shiver but I still love you man never do that again though one of my goals with this video is to debunk many of the popular complaints that I constantly hear about the film's finale I will get into that later but just as a warning spoilers everywhere for signs so if you haven't seen the film check it out and then watch my review signs opens with the main title sequence that brings back memories of watching psycho for the first time the loud score by James Newton Howard was utilized in the opening credits to hint at the intensity that was to come in the film it was sort of like a warning a promise that things would get pretty freaky and the full arc of the music isn't felt until the finale of the film where that promise is kept when the credits end our first shot booms on the screen without much wait and we see a pristine backyard one that should emote feelings of comfort and warmth but instantly we sense something isn't right this is confirmed when Graham Hesse played excellently by Mel Gibson in my favorite performance of his wakes up and immediately feels off from this shot until the final moments in the film an unwavering sense of dread permeates this movie the thing about this opening which Knight himself refers to as his James Bond opening action scene that impresses me so much is how much you learn about Graham and just a few shots you really get all the essentials within a minute it's really remarkable the photo on his end table shows his wife and children as well as himself in his priests uniform a faded stain where a cross was once hung is clearly seen on the wall as well within a few shots a sharp eye can tell that he's had faith and lost it when screams from his crops send him and his brother Meryl Joaquin Phoenix running into the corn we meet Graham's children beau played by Abigail Breslin in her first role and Morgan played by Rory Culkin our first lines from both of the children are very important beau seems to think she's still in a dream the fact that she has odd possibly prophetic dreams is constantly brought up in the film Morgan thinks God made what lies ahead of him it's clear now that Morgan hasn't lost his faith this will bring up a consistent struggle between himself and his father throughout the film after the Hesse family discovers the giant crop circle in the field we now have our movie can I just add that this is real this isn't CGI I really really respect that in the next scene we see that their German Shepherd Houdini peed on the floor the kids think he's sick and this little exchange happens Danny peed look he's sick why don't you take him outside I'll call dr. Crawford he doesn't change image I don't know what to do this is actually a really cool little tidbit that I'll explain later it's something I didn't notice about the film for a long time soon we meet Caroline a local police officer who's arrived to hopefully give some answers we soon learned that many animals around the county have been acting odd the look on Gibson's face always sends shivers down my spine when she says other dogs have been peeing on themselves like when they smell a predator around it's also during this scene that Graham asks Caroline to please stop referring to him as father we also get our first hint that beau has a thing about her drinking water and a pretty suspenseful scene involving the family dog this scene also includes some pretty good humour something I think Knight really nailed in this movie after a few moments of silence Graham becomes unnerved by the fact that he can't hear his children anymore which leads to a scene my sister couldn't even watch the doggy dies Knight broke a rule of screenwriting here never killed the dog kill as many people as you want just never kill the dog he breaks that rule twice in this movie we learn of Morgan's asthma here and discover that the relationship between Graham and his brother Meryl is a bit strained soon we cut to nighttime the farm is quiet nothing is moving all we hear is cricket's but suddenly they stop chirping I didn't even notice this the first time I saw it but that subtle sound effects work terrifies me it's like holy crap a freaking alien just walked on the scene and the crickets were like hell no bull wakes up Bram saying there's a monster outside her room Graham kindly tries to put his daughter back to bed and we get a really great scene where beau asks Graham why he talks to mom when he's by himself we sensed that she since passed away this nice moment quickly ends when Graham spots an alien on the frickin roof Shyamalan was clever in the ways he chose to reveal the creature he doesn't just show you it you get a little glimpse which keeps you curious on the DVD nights said that the killer coming at you with a bloody knife isn't necessarily scary but having the knowledge that a killer is in your house just not being able to see him that's terrifying Hitchcock said something similar and I'm paraphrasing here a bomb going off is not suspenseful that's the release a bomb underneath the table and you don't know when it's going to go off now that's suspense so anyway Graham wakes Marilyn they try to chase this thing down outside still assuming it's just some neighboring kids this scene is pretty hilarious especially the dialogue involving the fact that Graham doesn't feel comfortable cursing soon enough the brothers start to sense that this may not be pesky kids the next day caroline has returned through conversation with Meryl we get more hints at what happened to Graham's wife and through a conversation with Beau we learned that she's really got a problem with water she even leaves tons of glasses all around the house half-full and yes I think glasses are half-full I'm an optimist Caroline interviews Graham and Meryl about their experience the previous night and another scene that keeps the audience chuckling but the subtle humor is always quickly replaced with an air of dread or worry as caroline brings up the fact that Graham left the church and someone might possibly have a grudge against them soon both says that every station is playing the same show and we see news reports from all around the world indicating that the crop circles are happening everywhere one of the things I love about this movie is that it truly captures what it might feel like if a group of hostile aliens attempted to take over the planet some alien invasion movies show worldwide destruction and people from other lands running and fleeing from big CGI ships to me despite the fact that these movies actually show worldwide invasion and devastation it wasn't until signs that I legitimately understood what it might feel like because it's told from the perspective of just this one family so it's vastly easier to relate to as a viewer Graham decides to take his family into town to help get their minds off things and through some comical scenes we learn extremely important details about each character Morgan is extremely interested in this whole UFO thing and gets a book about it bosz had a thing about her drinking water her whole life people still really feel the need to confess their sins to Graham and then what is perhaps the most important character info we learned that mayoral almost went pro as a baseball player but wasn't able to make it because it felt wrong not to swing when they all meet up for pizza we get another very important scene they spot the director Shyamalan himself accidentally walking into the frame oh wait he's in the movie dang he gave himself a big role he's the guy who killed Graham's wife and started all the characters on their fateful journey towards Redemption yup the director the guy who created these characters is also the character in the movie who made the first step that leads them all to the finale interesting here's why it doesn't bother me I saw this movie in theaters in 2002 before I knew who Shyamalan was because as I said this was the movie that really made me want to analyze film and learn more about them so I watched his performance as if it was just another actor and it didn't bother me in fact I remember thinking this supporting guy is pretty good so there are two cool things I take away from this scene for one everyone recognises him except Beau who says who is he this is probably due to how young she is she probably wouldn't recognize him and when Shyamalan drives off Graham is the only one who starts eating taking a huge bite trying to forget and move on this shows just how tortured he is in the next scene Beau's old baby monitor starts to pick up signals from something but what I always took away from this scene was that the signal doesn't become clear until the entire family is connected to me this was a hint that the only way they're all going to get out of this is by working together that each member of the family has something special also we get the first hint of Merrill's future obsession with the whole event the next scene is honestly one of the most suspenseful scenes I've ever seen in my life Graham decides to investigate his crops at night the sound design for this scene is perfect the dog barking in the background the crickets and the sounds coming from the alien all lend to that warm feeling of suspense I get from a well directed film my favorite shot in this scene is the angle below Gibson before he kneels down the shot and Gibson's performance really sell his desperation in that moment they finally decide to turn on the TV after Gibson's spots a freaking alien leg and his crops and decides you know what there may be something to this when they watch the news they learn that ships have been spotted around the entire Earth I love that they're just these little tiny dots on the screen and not some overblown CGI creation it's so much more realistic that way eventually the kids fall asleep and we get what is possibly the most important scene in the entire movie Meryl is feeling very worried and quietly begs Graham to be like he used to be just for a little bit Graham reluctantly tells him a story about consequence coincidence and fate breaking your average person down into two groups those who believe things happen for a reason and those who believe in random chance the conversation turns from light-hearted to dark when Graham mentions the last words his wife said before she died he says she said see then swing away Graham believes her brain was failing her as she died letting random thoughts escape her mouth without meaning he admits he no longer believes in God this is when we get our first dream Graham is dreaming about the night his wife died when he wakes he finds Meryl has taken the TV in the closet saying the kids were getting too obsessed he thinks the aliens are using the crop circles as a mapping system and talks about how their ships might be cloaked during the daytime due to a bird flying into what appeared to be a wall in the sky interestingly there was a deleted scene in the film where the family drove by a dead bird which would have linked up in our minds when Meryl said this next Graham observes his family falling more and more into obsession and worried night wisely plays a lot of this for comedy rather than make it all too serious when he gets a phone call from who we eventually learned is Rea ready sham Ellen's character we hear him say father then what sounds like Claus scampering on wood in the background the phone goes dead and Graham looks into a room revealing an incomplete dress still hanging up the box in the corner has his wife's name Colleen written on it it's clear he knows he has just spoken to his wife's accidental killer Grahame decides to go to race house to check on him but before this scene starts beau tells Morgan she doesn't want him to die who said I was going to die he continues to repeat now earlier I talked about the exchange Graham had with his children the conversation about taking Houdini to see dr. Crawford the kid said he doesn't treat animals it actually took me a few viewings to realize something kind of cool Knight put in the script that was very subtle we get one wide shot of Ray's house seeing that he is a veterinarian now that earlier scene makes sense Graham didn't want to take their dog to see the actual vet since that's the guy responsible for his wife's death I think this is fantastic writing I love when a director slash writer respects the audience and doesn't spoon feed them all the little details like this next we get a very emotional scene that is played with remarkable subtlety on the part of Gibson and night honestly isn't too bad here as I said earlier I didn't know he was a director the first time I saw this movie and the scene worked for me the two men have a bit of a recompense when ray acknowledges that he's caused Graham to question his faith he also mentions that he's heading for the lake because some have theorized that the aliens have been avoiding water before driving off he tells Graham he locked one of them in his pantry next we get what for some myself included was the scariest scene in the film most just refer to it as the disturbing footage scene this scene was actually listed number 77 in Bravo's 100 scariest movie moments it's the first time we get a good look at the creatures but at the same time it isn't the first time we see the aliens is not in some beautiful wide shot with sparks flying everywhere and big CGI creations it's on a handheld cam from a foreign country this is one of the best ideas Knight has ever had because it perfectly captured the terror of what this situation would be like for your average family I don't know my favorite thing about this scene after we watching it many times I noticed this you can actually see the camouflage creature crouching in the brush looking to see if it's safe to come out clearly it's distraught it's hiding why is that this is very important it helps debunk many complaints about the film's finale which I will discuss soon in the next scene Graham still doesn't want to accept the reality of the situation and tries to talk to whatever is in the pantry in a brilliant use of tension he uses the reflection of a large knife to try and see underneath the door the scare that happens in this scene is seriously utter perfection there is no loud boom or buildup of music to warn us that something is coming the hand just rushes out from under the door its claws clicking against the kitchen floor I'll never forget showing this scene to a friend back in 2003 after the DVD had already come out he was sitting far forward in his seat then he literally fell backwards and hit the back of the couch it was amazing after finally acknowledging that some serious crap is going on Graham tries to convince his family to head for water since it's a theory he finds some merit in his family disagrees however on the basis that they want to stay where their mother raised them he reluctantly agrees on the promise that they board up every window and door in the house I've also heard many complaints about how the aliens are so dumb that they can't get out of pantries and threw wood beams I'll get to talking about those at the end of this video when the family is crowded in the closet watching the news they learn that the crop circles are indeed being used as a mapping system Graham hears of people flocking to churches around the world and leaves the room Morgan tells uncle Merrill that he wishes he was his dad not Graham after the house is nearly finished being boarded up the family agrees to have what Graham is thinking might be their last dinner they each pick whatever they want but when it comes time to eat Morgan wants his dad to say a prayer this is a reminder that Morgan hasn't lost his faith something we learned in the opening scene when he said he thought God made the crop circles when Graham refuses he breaks down crying and the entire family comes together for one last emotional scene just like during the earlier car scene the signal from the baby monitor becomes clear when the entire family is grouped together they rush to finish boarding up the house when Graham looks out the window the crickets stop chirping yet again another warning that the creatures are coming in the script night had originally planned to show us lines being formed in the crops as the creatures advanced towards the house he wisely omitted that visual I find it much more terrifying without actually seeing that thinking that this might be one of the last times he has to really talk with his children he decides to tell each of them how they were born interestingly the births described are actually the stories of how nights actual children were born all the while you can hear the creatures crashing through the house all tension throughout this scene is caused with fantastic use of silence combined with sound design they head for the basement at this point the creatures have gotten inside the house and while trying to wedge the door shut they knock out the lights forcing them to use flashlights they notice that the aliens are just making noises trying to distract them from the real threat they begin searching for the coal chute remembering that it used to be poured into the basement upon finding it an alien grabs Morgan at night does something really great here he focuses on the fallen flashlight only letting us hear Graham and Merrill screaming to help Morgan it gives me goosebumps every time Morgan begins having an asthma attack causing Graham to realize they forgot to take his medicine beau says she dreamed this continuing to add weight to her almost angelic prophetic dreams as he's trying to help his son breathe he begins talking to someone else who we quickly realize is God it's clear now that Graham really does still believe in God he acknowledges his existence but hates him nonetheless eventually the asthma attack subsides when the family is finally able to sleep we get a little bit more of Graham's dream learning the Colleen died in an accidental car accident he wakes up before the dream finishes when he wakes we hear a voice on the radio a man who's theorizing about why the aliens came to earth he says people think they came here to take over the planet that's bull I don't think that my friend and I saw them found a pack of light bombs it poisonous family they drag them away nobody believes me they didn't come here for our planet this is a raid that came here for us to harvest us they left real fast this morning by something scared him off they left someone that wounded behind this little bit of dialogue is very important as I keep saying I'll get to that in a bit so after a bit of reluctance the family decides to go back upstairs in an attempt to find Morgan's medicine when Graham wheels the TV into the living room we get a scare that made a woman in the audience scream as if she'd literally seen a ghost I'll never forget that an alien is holding Morgan and it's missing two fingers it's the one from the pantry clearly this is one of the wounded that was left behind the family freezes as they watch the alien threatened to poison Morgan then Graham has an epiphany and we finally see the rest of Graham's flashback this is when Graham begins to connect the dots and where some audience members were let down he remembers that Colleen's last words were tell Graham to see and tell Meryl to swing away he remembers his conversation with Meryl about fate and coincidence and has a revelation he's haunted by his question is it possible there are no coincidences he tells Meryl almost pro baseball player to swing away who begins to attack the alien but not before it poisons Morgan now we get the next big reveal and more audience members got turned off the water the water is harmful to their skin this was Bo's addition to the situation Graham gets Morgan outside and gives him his injection as Beau watches Merrill trashed the alien exploding all the glasses of water she left around the house before too long the creature breathes its last breath in the next scene a very emotional Graham says that's why he had asthma he keeps telling himself that Morgan's lungs were too close for the poison to get in as his family waits to see if Morgan will wake up I think someone too in this moment Graham regains his faith we pan back through the window that was in the opening shot and while that opening shot was cold and filled with dread this one is beautiful sunny and vibrant even though the glass is smashed in a time lapse occurs to the following winter and Graham walks out of the rest room all decked out in his priestly garb in the film fades out now I have promised throughout this review that I discussed the film's ending and give my thoughts on why a lot of the complaints I hear are completely unwarranted complaint number one the pantry I'm constantly surprised by how many posts I've seen complaining that the aliens can't get out of a pantry or that boarded up doors don't stop them and how idiotic that is this I've never been able to understand there's the alien from the damn pantry he obviously got out how do you think the aliens got into the house when the family was in the basement they busted in there is literally no reason to be surprised by a living creature taking some time to bust through something with two tables stacked against it it's as simple as this they don't have frickin laser guns it's gonna take some time to bust through something I mean this thing even did it while I was missing two fingers another thing people tend to be like well how in the world did that thing find them remember the crop circles were used for navigation obviously they live really close to Ray ready because he drove right to his house more than likely that thing headed to the nearest crop circle trying to get back to his race wasn't able to and went to the nearest house complaint number two the water this is the biggest one water why would aliens come to a planet composed of roughly 70% water there's water in the air what if it rained I have a large amount of theories about this for one it's possible that these creatures had never encountered water before in their entire lifespan I mean imagine that we discover a faraway inhabited planet it's entirely plausible to assume that there would be unknown on the surface that could possibly be toxic to us perhaps something that our technology isn't able to discover or warn us about but remember what the guy on the radio said they didn't come here for our planet they came here for us it's entirely possible these aliens have absolutely zero interest in Earth they only want to harvest us why does it matter what else did we learn in that radio scene that they retreated so fast they left their wounded behind this shows the creatures desperation this shows they more than likely had no idea what they were walking into and are possibly a race in dire need of survival looking for some last resort remember the Brazilian video the camouflaged creature cowering in the bushes alone my guess is that thing is terrified it's completely separated from the group perhaps he's watched his friends all die as they were exposed to the atmosphere for an extended period of time my point is this entire movie is told from the perspective of one family the information that the audience gets is as limited as what they get I'm sure if this was a film that was directed like Independence Day which in its own right is a really fun movie showing countries all over the world the suspense would have instantly ended when they show a place that happens to be raining now yes ray Reddy's character said it seemed like they were avoiding water but remember this you can't make a crop circle in water which is what they were using as a navigation system all of this is subjective which is the whole point it's about the terror and confusion of one family trying to deal with this situation which is why this film is all the more affecting and relatable lastly how long were the aliens actually on earth okay so the movie starts out with the family discovering the crop circle then all the crap starts to go down from that scene to when the aliens leave the planet at night only three days pass I think people tend to miss this in the course of three days the aliens arrive on earth and likely send out a few Scouts like the one we saw on the roof then more are sent in a desperate attempt to salvage anything they can then they get the hell out of there as fast as possible even leaving their wounded behind this is why I'm always surprised at the absurd amount of complaints involving water it's very obvious that this race of creatures is immensely desperate and possibly even scared scrounging for whatever they can what makes this movie scary to me is that it focused on one family and their plight throughout this situation since we know as little as they know it's terrifying everything I just said really isn't the point of this film however the movie isn't about aliens or invasion it's about faith losing it and regaining it it's about a family figuring out how to work again and I find that extremely moving and since water is a universal symbol of holiness and purification it makes sense that night would choose that as the thing that washes the evil away signs is the reason I'm talking to you guys about movies today I owe the film a lot of things thanks so much guys for watching this review I look forward to doing more analyzed reviews in the future I hope you enjoyed this and if you like signs I hope you like it a little bit more now and if there were some things you were maybe confused about I hope this may be cleared it up for you and maybe just maybe if you were annoyed by the water thing you're not as annoyed by it now cuz trust me I understand it's a little weird it's a little different but the movie really isn't about that also let me know in the comments below other films you would like me to analyze in this fashion guys thanks so much for watching and if you like this you can click right here and get stuck my nice

Channel: Chris Stuckmann

Views: 1,298,405

Rating: 4.8752441 out of 5

Keywords: Signs, 2002, Mel Gibson, M Night Shyamalan, Joaquin Phoenix, Movie Review, Analyzed, Explained, Chris Stuckmann, Abagail Breslin, Rory Culkin, Cherry Jones, James Newton Howard, Alien, UFO, Roof, Brazilian Video, Disturbing Footage, Pantry, Water, Scene, HD, Full Movie, Ending, Spoilers, TV, Aliens, Creatures, Scary, Horror, Thriller, Summer, Faith, Spirituality

Id: V3Ju05PuiyQ

Length: 27min 26sec (1646 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 20 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Bugger217]

Wow, this was brilliant. I loved Signs before, but this made me appreciate it in a completely new way. So much subtlety I hadn't noticed before.

[u/SexCashClothes]

M. Night was born for this movie. He should take a break from filmmaking for a bit and get his creative juices flowing.

[u/Kittygus1]

Upvote for anything Chris stuckmann.

[u/Charlie24601]

Interesting explanations, but some are downright dumb.

Its possible these aliens have never seen water before??? If you have interstellar flight capability, I'm guessing you've seen combustion of hydrogen in your basic alien high school chemistry lab.

I'm willing to bet they have sensors that can detect it, seeing as its highly dangerous to them. Kind of like radiation to us. And to not recognize "that blue stuff" while flying overhead? Yeah, thats pretty dumb.

[u/KalElButthead]

Caring about the water plot element is a mistake if you ask me. I think it's a great horror movie that focuses on an interesting family dynamic. The details aren't the 'point', IMHO. But yeah, I nitpick other movies so, I get it.