Cheap Signs (Vista Series) (DVD) (Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix) (M. Night Shyamalan) Price

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Customer Reviews of Signs (Vista Series)

Great Story About Faith
I loved this movie, unlike my husband who thought it was a complete rip-off and waste of money. He is a sci-fi fan and wanted answers on where the alien invaders came from, what was their objective, how their technology worked, why the crop circles, etc. All very valid points, but I am still in love with this movie because I love character pieces. To me, this was an excellent character piece about a man who loses his faith and finds it again, and all the alien stuff was merely window dressing. You could have the same story of a minister losing his faith anywhere and I would still love it, but the alien invasion does gives the story extra zing.

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One of the Best Movies Ever!
M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Some people think that this movie wasn't that good, but I know that they think this because it is not the action packed blowing-up-aliens-every-way-they-turn stuff that they're used to. Shyamalan is a very gifted screen writer and director, and this movie along with his others (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, etc.) shows his immense talent and very great style. I think that "Signs" is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time, and I think it will always remain as that.

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Not what I expected
I must confess I didn't really like "The Sixth Sense" very much, and I was very disapointed with "Unbreakable", so I wasn't quite sure whether I would like M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs". What I found in this movie was much different than what I was expecting, and if nothing else Shyamalan knows how to use the camera and did a masterful job in the product.

Signs stars Mel Gibson as an ex preacher who lost his faith after his wife's unfortunate death a few months earlier. He, his brother, and his two children live on a small farm in rural Pennsylvania. They awake right at the beggining to find a giant crop circle in thier corn field. This combined with strange animal behavior is a perplexing mystery, but the the family believes it to be a hoax untill crop circles begin showing up all over the world, followed by lights hovering over major world cities. Soon it becomes evident that they are witnessing actual ET activity. The alien visitors finally prove themselves to be hostile and the family must band together to survive the ordeal.

Not the most novel idea, I know, but what is original is the approach. Almost the entire movie takes place in the house or on the farm, and the movie is completely focused on the point of view of this family, rather than a world-wide scope. You sort of travel through the experience along-side the characters, hearing news of what's going on from the TV and when they dont know what's going on niether do you. This effectively delivers the feeling of wondering what is happening in the rest of the world. The whole premise here is similar to the original "night of the living dead" with the characters smack dab in the middle of some amazing events pent up in a house trying to survive and having no idea what's going on or why. This is the 100% antithesis of "independence day"... so dont expect to get lots of visual effects or see amazing scenes of spaceships landing in washington DC.

Through most of the movie you dont see any aliens, or only very slight glimpses at best, and the movie is a thriller deffinatley not an aciotn movie, nor much of a sci-fi work. Most of the time the movie works it's maghic by not showing you what's out there, but giving you a sense that it's there - a tactic under employed in today's effects ridden movies. To me the movie felt more like a comedy than anything else. "Signs" makes very effective use of light humor, and you'll laugh more than you will scream. Gibson does a great job and some great elements of humor were worked into various scenes.

The best part of "Signs" other than the humor however is the directorial work and great visual style of Shyamalan. I must give props here, because it is well deserved. The camera work is excellent, and whole movie is very well done. Also a lot of metaphorical details are interwoven into the plot and events, and one could argue that "signs" has less to do with aliens than it does the main character's struggle with his own faith and an over all exploration of the age old question 'does everything happen for a reason? or is it all just random"?

All these elements add up to make what would have otherwise been a poor movie at best into an entertaining, well done, movie with plenty of humor, some philosophical elements. The only flaws lie in the larger plot. The aliens are kind of dumb (strong enough to leap onto a 10 foot roof but not break down a door!). They have space ships capable of interstellar travel but instead of technologically advanced weapons they use hand to hand combat and organically ejected poison gas! (not kidding). There are moments in this movie where you will laugh not because of intended humor but in the rediculousness of what's happenening. You're telling me these people borded up thier whole house and just waited for the alien invasion without even having the foresight to grab some weapons? not even a shotgun or a knife or anything?! There are lots of moments like that. It helps if you view the movie lighlty as a comedy and pay more attention to the backstory of mel gibsons character.

All in all I have many complaints about this movie as far as the whole alien invasion plot goes, but there was enough stuff to like about it to just barely earn it a 4 stars.