Sci-fi smorgasbord

The summer blockbuster Signs is a 1950s B movie wrapped up in 21st-century finery. This goofy smorgasbord of a film juggles questions of faith, terrifying shock cuts and comic asides with admirable dexterity. Most of all, it is a cinematic paean to famous genre films like The Birds, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Night of the Living Dead and any number of low-budget alien adventures that feature lines like "Resistance is futile, puny Earthlings!"

Although photos of ominous crop circles have been plastered on television and in newspaper ads for the last few months, they play only a tiny role in the film. When the signs first appear in the corn fields of Pennsylvania farmer Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), it looks as if the film is going to be a thoughtful sci-fi mystery in the vein of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This perception is heightened when we discover that Graham is a former Episcopal priest who handed in his round collar six months earlier. (He has to remind people not to call him "Father" anymore.)

We quickly learn that Graham lost his faith and gave up the priesthood after his wife died in a car accident. He holds God responsible for her death, and we are set up for Graham's rocky relationship with God and for the discussions of faith that come later in the film. As the film begins, Graham is living in the gloomy family farmhouse with his ten-year-old son Morgan, his five-year-old daughter Bo and his younger brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix). Merrill, a former minor league baseball player, has moved in to help out in the absence of the kids' mom.