[Movie Review] The Signal (2014)
Director: William Eubank
Writers: William Eubank, Carlyle Eubank, David Frigerio
Runtime: 95 min
Main Cast:
- Brenton Thwaites as Nick Eastman
- Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Wallace Damon
- Olivia Cooke as Haley Peterson
- Beau Knapp as Jonah
Review: by Anthony and Lee
After watching the trailer for the new sci-fi movie written and directed by fairly newcomer William Eubank, featuring up-and-coming actor Brenton Thwaites and sci-fi veteran Laurence Fishburn, we were interested to see The Signal, so we could find out the answers to the many questions we had.
In The Signal, Nick Eastman (Brenton Thwaites) was taking his girlfriend Haley Peterson (Olivia Cooke) across the country from their college MIT to Caltech. Along for the ride was Nick’s best friend Jonah (Beau Knapp). After tracking down a skilled hacker who almost got the group expelled, everything went crazy, and Nick found himself in a peculiar lab rat situation. Doctor Wallace Damon (Laurence Fishburn), safely inside his biohazard suit, was running the show, asking the questions, and giving virtually no answers in return. Everything went haywire as Nick attempted to figure out what happened to him and his friends, while simultaneously trying to reconnect with them.
What We Liked:
Prior to watching The Signal, the only other experience we had had with Brenton Thwaites was seeing him as Prince Phillip in Maleficent, and there was absolutely nothing for him to do there. Thwaites is a great young actor, and while we doubt this movie will win any Oscars, he performed quite well. One of the scenes we enjoyed was when Nick became aware of the physical change he had undergone. Thwaites showed a bevy of emotions in that scene and other, and, considering that he carried the weight of the movie on his shoulders, we would say he handled everything fantastically.
Laurence Fishburne, the other key actor, played his role perfectly. He was basically Morpheus from The Matrix, and that type of straight faced, calm demeanor was great.
This was truly a sci-fi movie. It was William Eubank’s second time directing, but he also contributed to the script; and, there was never a moment where we thought this was not a sci-fi movie. It was clear that the writers drew inspiration from other classic sci-fi stories like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.
What We Didn’t Like:
While the solid sci-fi inspiration was clear and appreciated, there were too many things going on at once. There were flashbacks that did not resolve or add to the story, poor helpless cows being experimented on, and the M. Night Shyamalan twist on a twist ending.
Olivia Cooke as Haley Peterson did not have much to do aside from spend multiple scenes in a coma. Haley had an important role as Nick’s girlfriend, so it would have been nice if she were more involved in the story, fleshing out their back story or becoming a character of her own.
The first 45 to 60 mins of the movie was this huge sci-fi mystery, and, while we don’t mind things not being spelled out for us because we can put two and two together using context clues, at times, The Signal gave us absolutely nothing. More than a few times I (Ant) turned to Lee to ask “What is going on here? What am I watching?!”
Summary
The Signal is a sci-fi thriller that tried too hard to be clever. It did not not accomplish its goal and would have done better to focus on character and story development instead of trying to be mysterious.
User Review
( votes)Images Courtesy of IMDB
