After reading about my friend Brandon's recent distaste for M. Night Shyamalan's latest movie "Airbender", I took a moment to think about the M. Night Shyamalan movies I had seen...and came up with a big fat ZERO. So, I decided that late on a Friday night was the perfect time to watch Signs.
I was considering NOT watching it simply because Mel Gibson was one of the stars and these days he's persona non grata, but I'm glad I decided to watch it anyway. I was expecting something pretty basic as far as "crop circle aliens" go...but I must say, I was impressed with the movie. I was a bit distracted at the start, I was trying pretty hard to get into the movie (but that could be because I was very tired), I was most impressed at the stylish sets and scenes. I thought "wow, he has the small-town-middle-America-farmhouse thing DOWN". I especially loved the kitchens. By the time Mel (The Father) had taken a knife to some pretty weird looking fingers under the neighbor's pantry door, I was absolutely riveted to the chair. I felt that little clench in my stomach and kept trying to tell myself over and over that "okay, if they don't survive, it's not much of a movie".
The last 30 minutes of the movie were the most enthralling and worrisome. I spent most of that time with my fingernails clenched on the arms of the chair. I anxiously awaited the end so I could just be done with the leg wiggling nervousness that I was experiencing. I am guessing that this response I had was the exact reason Brandon WAS (repeat, WAS) such an M. Night Shyamalan fan. Apparently, when "Signs" came out, he was able to induce this type of behavior from a lot of viewers. It's the emotion of fear on a believable level. I mean, if crop circles suddenly appeared in Boise, I would probably run to home depot for some wood to nail everything shut and get a giant Super Soaker filled with water. :) It was that believable for me. And you know, some movies and some directors specialize in the whole "suspension of disbelief" thing...M. Night Shyamalan, at least in this movie, specialized in transforming the audience into putty and molding them to think exactly what he wanted to leave them thinking - that alien invasion was possible and maybe there really is a reason for everything that happens.
The IMDB link
No comments:
Post a Comment