Signs

August 8, 2002

God and aliens do not mix.

They don’t. If God exists as Christians perceive him, the existence of aliens is impossible within that paradigm. The creation of any other non-earthbound creature is not even hinted at in the bible, except for of course, angels – and I doubt anyone would make the case for angels being extraterrestrials. If aliens exist, it is would stand to reason that God lied to us, or to the prophets at least – and God doesn’t lie, does he? Okay, maybe he didn’t lie, but he definitely left it out, didn’t he? Of course, according to worst film EVER made, John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, Jesus was an alien and Satan lived in a jar in the bottom of Parker Stevenson’s church, so anything is possible, right?

Even with these obvious flaws, at least to my own personal logic, this was still a fairly entertaining film. There were several moments of pure Hitchcockian suspense. I even caught myself holding my breath on several occasions.

I am not a big Mel Gibson fan, but he wasn’t half bad. The role could have been much less sympathetic in the hands of a lesser talent, say Kevin Costner or George Clooney.

I would swear that the music from the opening sequence was from Twilight Zone – The Movie.

Shyamalan’s true talent lies in the performances that he is able to elicit from his young stars. Rory Culkin’s performance was outstanding, to say the least. If I was him, I would change my name. Being associated with that bastard Macaulay is the last thing he needs.

All in all, I give it barely three stars. It was definitely worth me skipping out of work to see it, but not quite Friday night material.