|
 Movie
B+ |
Video A- | Audio A-
| Extras A-
Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix,
director M. Night Shyamalan | DreamWorks Home Entertainment
2002 | Science Fiction - Thriller | PG-13 | 106 minutes
Region 1 | DVD-9
|
anamorphic
widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio
THX-certified | Dolby Digital 5.1
Summary: Director/writer/actor M. Night Shyamalan, known for his movie The Sixth Sense,
returns in this latest science-fiction thriller. Signs stars Mel Gibson as a pastor
who stops believing in God, after the sudden and tragic loss of his
beloved wife. Unable to find meaning in wife's death, he turns away
from God and quits his service as a pastor. In spiritual and
professional limbo, he supports his family by focusing on his farming. But when
mysterious crop circles start to appear on his farm and those all around the
world, he (and many others) begins to suspect something is going on with the world. Is
it the work of well-organized world-wide pranksters, or of some supernatural being, or
even extra-terrestrials? While the movie explores the mystery of these
signs, M. Night Shyamalan adds a couple of
other subplots that all converges with the ending.
"There
is no such thing as coincidence"
In following the traditions of M. Night Shyamalan's
other masterpieces, The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable,
Signs has a few subplots, which develop in a slow and deliberate
pace. Also sprinkled in the main storyline are Shyamalan's unique
sense of humor and symbolisms. I had high expectations for Signs,
being a big fan of The Sixth Sense, but like Unbreakable,
Signs was a bit of a let down for me. The story is good, but
the character's behavior lacked a certain palpability. For example, when they finally
discover what was going on with their world, the lack of
adrenaline-pumping panic never really set in with these characters.
They almost seem to take their sweet time. Between this and other things,
the acting performances in Signs didn't always suspend my disbelief.
As a Buena Vista Home Entertainment coveted Vista Series
DVD release, Signs
falls somewhat short of the high bar that the Unbreakable
2-disc Vista Series had set back in June of 2001. Just as troubling
is that like a few other recent Buena Vista
DVD releases, Signs is plagued with a couple of spots where the playback
would hiccup. One such problem area is in Chapter 3 and another is in Chapter 10.
Buena Vista seems to be quite sloppy in the quality control department as
of late. Consumers deserve a perfect DVD master, whether they're renting
or buying the DVD. It's further disappointing is that this DVD is
even THX-certified.
What happened to quality going in first, before logos of quality gets put
on?
Special Features: 5 deleted scenes;
"Making Signs" featurettes: "Looking for Signs",
Building Signs", "Making Signs: A Commentary by M.
Night Shyalmalan", "The Effects of Signs",
"Last Voices: The Music of Signs", and "Full
Circle"; Storyboards: Multi-Angle (and multi-audio soundtrack)
feature; Night's first alien movie "Pictures"
DVD released on 1/7/2003 | Reviewed 1/12/2003
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Additional Notes: Unless we specify otherwise, the
video and audio quality are very good when their grades are "A-"
or better. Only the highest number of channels of surround sound
format is listed (e.g., Dolby Digital 5.1). If there are both Dolby
Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 soundtracks, then both are listed. All
DVD-Video discs are backwards compatible with stereo-only playback
systems.
Let us know what you think about this DVD review, write to us at
Editor@TimeForDVD.com.
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Associated equipment used in evaluation: Sony
DVP-S7700 reference DVD player, Sony
KP-61V45 61" rear projection TV (4:3 screen aspect ratio), Sony ES STR-V444ES A/V receiver, four
B&W CDM 9NTs as left/right main speakers
and left/right surrounds, B&W CDM CNT center channel speaker, Monster Cable M-series S-Video cable MSV-500, Monster
Cable Interlink LightSpeed 100 (Toslink) optical cable, Monster Cable
Interlink 400 MKII interconnects, Monster Cable
Original speaker cables in bi-wire configuration with Monster Cable twist-on gold-plated banana plug
connectors, Lovan Sovereign T HiFi audio
rack, and Sony MDR-V600 studio monitor headphones. Our home theater equipment was calibrated
with the Video
Essentials DVD.
Be sure to check out our Top 10 DVDs of the year
2001 and our list of this year's Oscar winners on DVD.
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