Director: William Eubank.
Cast: Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke, Beau Knapp, Laurence Fishburne, Lin Shaye, Robert Longstreet.
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 97 minutes.
Synopsis: During a road trip, three friends decide to track down a hacker who has been stalking them and accessing their laptops. After tracing the hacker things take a strange turn and government agents enter the scene.
As the closing film of London’s FrightFest, THE SIGNAL had a lot to live up to. Even more so since it is certainly more sci-fi than horror. That’s not to say the film was unsuited to the event, as there are plenty of psychological chills and feelings of paranoia. Intelligent sci-fi is never as hard to come by as it is often suggested though, and although they may not be filling up the multiplexes, streaming services and DVDs are a great way to explore the less is more in high imagination.
THE SIGNAL suffers due to a slow pace that fails to reach its climax with any sense of urgency. It begins great with a trio of excellent performances portraying characters worth caring about. The mystery surrounding their motives and events adds for a sinister tone which gradually unravels into dangerous curiosity. Brenton Thwaites brings a lot of gravity to his role as Nic, a young man with a degenerative illness that may one day leave him in a wheelchair. He captures the exact right amount of self pity and strength to make Nic a complex individual.
The first act leads into a second act of complete confusion. Laurence Fishburne enters as a calm and collected hazmat wearing government agent, and gradually the puzzle becomes a denser mystery. Here we enter themes of men and machines and the delicate balance of life. It’s typical science-fiction stuff and it has been done much better elsewhere. Another smaller sci-fi film, THE MACHINE, explored such elements and also didn’t feel as though it was limited. THE SIGNAL ends up clumping together scenes, though impressive in their own right, do not equate to a satisfactory whole.
Although the story may not have enough to propel interest further than the initial premise, it all looks bloody wonderful. Shot like a serious drama with real attention to capturing landscapes and flourishes of light, no matter where the film is taking place, it comes alive. The effects are also absolutely tremendous. How on earth ILM can piss away so much money on TRANSFORMERS and not even come close to this independent affair is well beyond me. Being unable to tell how the effects were achieved is a real compliment to the film, but even more telling is that I didn’t once question the existence of the effects while watching the film.
There is another interpretation to take from these visuals, and that is the fact the film feels so polished certain scenes and shots could easily be used in a number of commercials. The dialogue intends to add depth to these images, but it comes across as an immature afterthought wherein the writers lifted from the first philosophy book off the shelf.
THE SIGNAL isn’t the easiest film in the world to get through. Its meandering pace is littered with twists intended to drum up excitement. Despite some good ideas and stunning imagery, this is ultimately a film that will work well as a showcase for certain people on the crew, but would have served better as a short.
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