Signs: The movie.

[mofo1]

Did I miss something here? What the h e l l was that all about? I just rented this thing to watch and simply did NOT get it. I remember all the summer hype about this thing and I gotta tell ya that I don't think that it was all that. I kept waiting for some deep meaning or some bizarre plot twist or heck, even for Bob Newhart to wake and realize that it was all a dream. I can generally pick up on the nuances of what a filmmaker is trying to do, but I completely missed this one. Any thoughts?

[katbalou]

dear mofo1,
i'm right with you - i didn't quite grasp the plot either. and what was with them calling mel, "father"? he was supposedly a reverend of some sort? the only priests i know that are called father are catholic and aren't married, unless he was supposed to be orthodox? it just irritated me. i'm glad i rented the movie instead of seeing it when it came out.
kat

[chrose]

My wife and son really liked it. Didn't do a thing for me personally, I thought it was rather lame.
I think the "aliens" were here to eat us and "God" prevented it thereby restoring his faith that God giveth and taketh away at his whim. Like I said, rather lame if you ask me. Phhttttt....

[Mezzaluna]

Chrose, maybe they were here to "serve mankind"!

Remember that old movie? The name escapes me... but the last line was, "It's a cookbook!"

[Nicko]

I felt as if the deeper meaning of the movie is that everything does happen for a reason and not simply by chance. I am a sci-fi guy so I enjoyed the movie as a good story and left it at that.

[Pete]

I liked the movie somewhat. Not nearly as good as his earlier movies, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, but still very much an M. Night Shamalan (sp?) movie.

To answer a few questions, Mel Gibson's character was a minister (not Catholic priest) until his wife was killed in that car wreck, at which time he lost his faith in God and left the calling.

The deeper meaning of the movie is, like Nicko said, that there is no such thing as coincidence. All things happen for a reason, whether you want to believe that there is some force behind it or not is yet another question. There are many, seemingly unrelated events during the movie that all come together in the final scenes that tie this whole premise together. Mel's wife's last words, to his brother. Mel's daughter's phobia of drinking 'bad', stale water. Mel's son's asthma. All these seemingly unrelated events all play a part in helping to save Mel's family from the aliens, especially the one that Mel, himself, had injured.

Though, I did like it, I thought there were some major flaws in the movie, and unfortunately I had most of it figured out before the end, unlike The Sixth Sense, which blew me away with the final scenes.

[Nicko]

I forgot about the asthma which protected his lungs from the posinous gas. I did like the aliens. The scene where Mel G. is rolling the tv out and you see the reflection of the alien behind him was very well done.

[mofo1]

I don't remember which movie Mezz is referring to, either. Does anyone? Oh well, I guess I'll sit here and enjoy my new bag of chips ahoy "soylent green" flavored cookies while I wait for the answer. I don't know what they're made of, but they sure are tasty.

[Peachcreek]

I think that was the original story that Mezzaluna was talking about. Then there was that lousy kinda-remake made for TV movie called "V".


I still like "The Sixth Sense" the best of M. Night Shamalyans' movies.

[chrose]

Originally posted by Mezzaluna
Chrose, maybe they were here to "serve mankind"!

Remember that old movie? The name escapes me... but the last line was, "It's a cookbook!"

Mezz,
What you are thinking of was called "To Serve Man" that was the name of the cookbook and the short story. It was aired on The Twilight Zone. It was a great story and proof of how gullible we can be.

[katbalou]

ahh, soylent green. i remember how that movie scared the **** of me when i was younger. still gives me the creeps.
kat