A message. A warning. A sign...of things to come.

Starring: Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, M. Night Shyamalan

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★★☆ - near perfect

"Swing away Merrill. Merrill... swing away." - Graham Hess

Why watch this? This rich, character-driven film gets really scary when unwanted guests arrive.

Plot Summary: After a tragic loss of faith, a former reverend, Graham Hess, lives on a secluded farm with his children and brother. One morning, they discover large crop circles carved into their cornfields, initiating a series of increasingly strange and frightening occurrences. As the family grapples with these unexplained phenomena and news reports of similar events worldwide, they must come to terms with the possibility that something otherworldly is happening.

Dad's Preview: Out of the gate, Shyamalan was on a roll, with The Sixth Sense (1999) and Unbreakable (2000). Signs combined his intense direction with stars Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. The result is a terrifying film about first contact. However, the film's strength is its character development. Gibson is a preacher who has lost his faith. His brother, Phoenix, is a young man who never reached his potential. These stark emotional scars play out as the "signs" begin to manifest, indicating something has landed on earth, and it's not friendly.

Touchtone Pictures, Blinding Edge Pictures, The Kennedy/Marshall Co.;
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution