After The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, M. Night Shyamalan brought us Signs, starring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. Finally diving into the extra-terrestrial, Shyamalan’s technique of story telling has once again delivered the goods with a suspenseful plot. In a world where movies tend to show everything graphically it’s refreshing to see something not being shown – building the tension until the climax arrives. And apart from that Shyamalan tells an intriguing story of lost and found faith, coupled with a sense of purpose in the grander scheme of things.
I’ve heard some people complain about the fact that the aliens were eventually shown in the movie, and that this ruined it. To me this wasn’t so much of a problem. While most of the movie gained in tension by not showing them, the final parts served to portray the shock that people experience when faced with something never seen before. This gives it a purpose. Some people may still not like it, but that’s their right.
In my opinion Shyamalan hasn’t topped The Sixth Sense with any of his subsequent movies, although they were each quite intriguing in their own way – with the exception of one: The Happening. The movie had good tension initially, but it just didn’t go anywhere. Additionally, I was expecting one of his trademark twists at the end, but it turned out quite ordinary. Maybe Shyamalan was trying to bring across a different message with this film, but for me it didn’t fit into his style.
Anyway, if you are interested in the paranormal and a good suspense drama, give Signs (buy at Amazon) a try.
More M. Night Shyamalan movies:
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