Summary
The final twist in the 2002 sci-fi horrorSignswas a lot of fun, but the longer I think about it, the less it makes any sense. Part of the appeal of the M. Night Shyamalan movie is the number of unique factors that came together to save the protagonists in the end, putting an end to the plans of an invading alien species. Like many sci-fi stories, there are aspects of this that we have to accept despite their lack of sense. However, the older I get and the more I consider it, the harder it is for me to swallow the larger picture ofSigns.
M. Night Shyamalan’sSigns, which starred Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Abigail Breslin, and Rory Culkin, was a fair hit when it was released in 2002, bringing in $408 million at the global box office and receiving largely positive reviews from critics. The story follows a former reverend (Gibson) and his family as they slowly realize that aliens are invading their planet. In the end, the villainous creatures aretaken down by the unique quirks of each character, including the tendency of Breslin’s Bo to leave glasses of water around the house. It was a simple but meaningful solution, but it had some problems.
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Signs' Water Twist Ruins The Aliens' Plans In Signs
The technologically advancedaliens ofSignsare ultimately revealed to have a severe, deadly reaction to water. Since Bo leaves glasses of H2O around the house, the alien that tries to attack the Hass family essentially walks into a landmine, and combined with Morgan’s asthma, Merrill’s baseball swing, and Graham’s faith, the forces of good are left unharmed. It was a delightful twist and one that I didn’t give a second thought to when I was a kid in 2002. However, in reality, there is just so much wrong withSign’s grand solution to its alien problem.
It would have been nearly impossible for them to avoid H2O—it’s in the very air, after all.
I’m certainly not the first to realize that aliens with an allergy to water shouldn’t have tried to invade a planet that is basically made of the stuff. We can try to explain this away with the conclusion that the creatures had never encountered it before and, therefore, didn’t know it would be an issue.What really bothers me is that the ending ofSignsis the first that the aliens actually came in contact with waterduring their stint on Earth. They had been working on their plans for the planet throughout the entire movie, leaving crop circles and sneaking around houses. It would have been nearly impossible for them to avoid H2O—it’s in the very air, after all.
What Did The Aliens Actually Want In Signs?
Signs Didn’t Work Very Hard To Back Up The Aliens' Intentions
My other problem withSignsis the actual motivation of the aliens. While the goal of taking over Earth and disposing of humans is easy enough,it seemed as if the movie was initially setting up something grander. There were multiple attempts to communicate, but this came to essentially nothing. The water situation might have been explained with additional information about where these aliens came from and what they wanted to do with Earth. For a film that was, admittedly, conceptually interesting, so little was put into the whens, whys, and hows.
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Despite Its Flaws, Signs Is Still A Great Sci-Fi Horror Movie
Signs Isn’t Perfect, But It’s Still A Lot Of Fun
Of course,Signshas proven that it doesn’t necessarily need to make much sense to work. It’s a story about faith and predetermination, so a little lack of logical sense wasn’t out of bounds for the overall story. The point was that the Hass family was uniquely equipped to survive a situation that could never actually be planned for and the “signs” that Gibson’s character shouldn’t abandon his faith after the tragic death of his wife. It’s all very Shyamalan, even without a more nuanced explanation for the aliens' choices.
The aliens themselves still served a great purpose outside the moral lessons of their defeat.As a PG-13 film,Signsis a great introduction to sci-fihorror movies, and the aliens are just the right amount of scary for someone just dipping their toes into the genre. As a young viewer in 2002, I was absolutely thrilled by the spectacular creepiness of it all. There were jump scares, slow-burning suspense, and just enough violence to get the heart pumping. WhileSignsmay not hit the same way when I watch it today, I can’t deny that it was still a great movie for what it was.
Signs
Cast
Signs is a sci-fi horror film by director M. Night Shyamalan. It follows devout priest Graham Hess and his family as they find themselves in the middle of a mysterious event where crop circles appear in the middle of their farmland. Then, seeing the entire world begin to experience similar phenomena, the family starts to worry about their safety and the end of days as they ponder what may be coming.
