This M. Night Shyamalan effort centers on the Hess family, who's lives are shaken by an alien invasion. The best thing about "Signs" is the dialogue between Graham and Merrill Hess, played by Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. The lessons each of them have learned about life, and how an alien invasion brings out their emotions and their opinions, is well done. "Signs" manages to be funny and quite frightening, as well. There is some truly scary imagery, both on the Hess farm and on TV news reports.

The biggest knock on this movie is the problem many viewers have with how the aliens are fought. Many viewers leap to the conclusion that because the aliens have invaded Earth, they must be so technologically advanced that they couldn't have made a miscalculation. This sounds like spin but I actually enjoy the movie immensely for the idea that the aliens have gotten in over their heads. And what if the aliens gathered up humans for consumption and not to conquer the earth? Perhaps they were quickly harvesting people for food and sent down workers to gather them up. Maybe they knew they had a very limited time to loot the earth. They got what they needed knowing they would suffer casualties and then left. The key here is that nothing is known about the aliens so why do people jump to the conclusion that the goal was for the aliens to take over the earth?

Regardless, the movie is about destiny and faith, and the alien invasion is a tool used to present them.