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| �SIGNS� is a rare film and mucho-hyped to the farthest reaches of known nonsense. Mel Gibson�s seen in one of his most serious roles in his 20-year career as a faithless ex-Rev who has rubbished his belief in God and refuses to concede to the very real threat of extraterrestrial intelligent life frolicking butt-naked through his Pennsylvanian corn fields. Boy has he much to learn, while his 2 kids and brother (coolly played by Tobey Maguire lookalike Joaquin Phoenix - a hard name to spell let along pronounce� is it �joking�?) are more readily resigned to the widespread fear that the end of the world is literally on their doorstep in the humanlike-form of gangly green men. Not so much scary as mutha-fcuking tense, there�s a classic moment of spine-chilling malice when a news report fed in from Brazil has home-movie footage of a kid�s B-day party interrupted by one of these aforementioned men in a green outfit. Yet the ending�s a remarkably neat one, as the hostile invaders get scared of our enthused resistance and think �sod this, we�re off.� And they�re never heard of again. And wotcha know, Gibson�s faith in the unimaginable and paranormal and supercalafragalisticexpeealidocious is restored to its former glory, which is convenient. So mankind (and any associated women and children I�m guessing) is safe for the time being. (STEVE RUDD) | ||