Grade: B-

Verdict: Gibson's got the goods, but the movie works in fits and starts.

Details: Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Rated PG-13 for mild violence and scary moments. One hour, 46 minutes.

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Review: M. Night Shyamalan loves stories of faith and for that reason alone, his movies are always worth a look. In his megahit, "The Sixth Sense," he used ghosts as a prism through which he could focus our attention on spiritual matters. In "Signs," he uses extraterrestrials with attitude.

The ghosts worked better.

Essentially, a spiritual journey that collides with "War of the Worlds," "Signs" begins with the return of crop circles, mysterious patterns that first were noticed in the late '60s and '70s. They were eventually pretty much proved to be a hoax, the work of humans, not aliens.

Newsweek's latest cover boy, Shyamalan (pronounced Sha-ma-lon) cleverly builds on the earlier phenomenon, acknowledging the hoax while indicating these new circles are a whole different ball game. And they're, um, cropping up all over the world, including farmer and former priest Graham Hess's (Mel Gibson) cornfield in Bucks County, Pa.

Recently widowed, Graham has completely lost his faith, to the point of turning in his priest's collar (though the members of his former congregation still call him Father). He's tucked himself away since the accident and kept himself busy over-protecting his kids, Morgan (Rory Culkin) and Bo (Abigail Breslin). His brother, Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), has moved in to give him support, but in his shattered, heartbroken state, nothing gets to Graham.

Except those darn crop circles. When they first appear, he dismisses them as the work of mischievous neighbors. One, because he thinks that's what's going on, and, two, to take the "strangeness," as he says, out of it for his children. But when flying saucers appear over Mexico City, it's pretty clear it's not the neighbors.

The film's first half is terrific. Shyamalan does all kinds of things to spook us. Why does the family's German Shepherd go berserk? Why does the TV suddenly get the same thing on all channels? And why does little Bo tell her dad, "There's a monster outside my window"?

The movie reminds us what a skilled, engaging actor Gibson is when he's got the right material. He's very good here, his loopy charm balanced by a deep, aching loss that's up-ended everything he thought he knew. Shyamalan often uses close-ups of his star to move the story along, be it the first sighting of the crop circles or Graham's efforts to reassure his kids.

The circles, the kids are told, are the work of "30-year-old nerds who never had a girlfriend in their lives. Nerds were doing it 25 years ago. Nerds are doing it now." (the capper: Bo doesn't care about aliens; she wants to know why the nerds don't have girlfriends.)

The kids are fine, though Culkin (of the Culkin clan) seems like he's trying to figure out how Haley Joel Osment might do his role. And Cherry Jones is solid as the local sheriff who sympathizes with Graham, but has her own theory about the circles. She wonders if it couldn't be that "out-of-town woman who threw a fit when the store was out of her favorite brand of cigarettes."

Strangely, "The Sixth Sense" may have done Shyamalan one bad turn. Now, we're on the alert for hints of what the surprising final twist will be. As the Hess family retreats into their farmhouse and everyone else seems to disappear, the thought occurs, maybe this is all in Graham's head — the kind of existential weirdness we got in "The Shining." For instance, when Graham fails to rally the troops for a normal family dinner, he angrily orders everyone to order what they want. The list goes something like this: spaghetti, chicken teriyaki, French toast and a cheeseburger with extra bacon. It's a little like they're ordering their last meals.

But that's not what's going on. The aliens, alas, are real.

You keep expecting a more complex film, but "Signs," much like Shyamalan's "Unbreakable,' offers an exceptionally intriguing premise and a flat follow-through.

The movie's not bad, so much as it is disappointing. Think of it this way: If "The Sixth Sense" was a grand slam homer, "Signs" is a sacrifice fly.

— Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution