SIGNS [2002] Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix ; Rated 12A

M. Night Shyamalan, the man who brought us the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, shows no sign (if you excuse the pun) of losing grip of his unique ability to make suspense drama's like no one else. He directs this (he also wrote the script as well) with such skill that you can't help feel a little privileged to be watching it. Mel Gibson takes over from where Bruce Willis left off and does an equal if not a better job of playing the lead role. Gibson plays a family man who has quite simply lost his faith after tragically losing his wife and mother to his two children in an horrific car accident. To make matters worse for Mel, crop circles start appearing in his fields and strange things start to haunt his family. As the film progresses you start to wonder where all the complicated and intertwining plot lines are going to end up. This is the beauty of the film, unlike Unbreakable and the Sixth Sense, both of which carry simple builds to a hidden twist ending, Signs mis-directs you in such a way that you're actually quite baffled as to what the film is doing. This to some may initially seem like bad film making, but not this time. The whole "where is this leading?" feel is intentionally implanted to allow the film to close in such away that you will walk away feeling very satisfied. I have deliberately not gone into not too much detail about the actual story of the film, so as to not run the risk of spoiling the experience for you. Sufficed to say though, this is one of the best films to grace the big screen in a long while. This is the closest I have ever come to giving a film five out of five. Go and see this movie right now, you would be a fool not to.

4/5