The Signal starts by following Nic, his girlfriend Haley, and their best friend Jonah, on a cross-country trip as the take Haley from MIT to her new school in California. Things take a weird turn when Nic and Jonah's hacker nemesis, only known as NOMAD, starts to turn the heat up on them. The three friends are drawn to a remote location to confront NOMAD only to end up in a situation that will alter their lives forever.
The movie was extremely well done. The movie takes you through a variety of emotions, and you will try and figure out the ending, even as you sit there blankly staring as the credits roll trying to figure out what just happened. The movie draws comparisons to other sci-fi films but really holds its own as a film.
Director William Eubank does a great job of using the sterile environment of the hospital that the three teens are placed in to create an even creepier environment. The lights, the camera tint, the hazmat suits, etc. all lend to pulling the audience into the film. I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out where Nic really was located. The other aspect of the film that really brought this movie up from a B- to an B+ was that you know it's a sci-fi film; the whole time it's dealing with the concept of aliens, but you it's not until the third act that it is all brought to fruition.
The acting by Laurence Fishburne was stellar as usual. He always plays the wise sage, and it never fails to draw you in. His character is hiding something, but he and director William Eubank do a great job at keeping you on your feet. Actually, the acting by all the leads in this film was quite good. Brenton Thwaites, as Nic, did a great job as Nic. His range of emotions in this was very good, and he was given a much bigger role than his other summer blockbuster appearance in Maleficent. I would have liked to have seen more from Olivia Cooke as Haley and Beau Knapp as Jonah. They showed a lot of promise in the opening 20-30 minutes and final act of the film. The three young leads all have great promise in the industry. They all have had great roles and when they are given the chance to shine in the film.
There were only two problems I had with the film. One was that I would have liked to have seen more of Olivia Cooke and Beau Knapp at the end. There is a great twist at the end that I wish would have been explored more. The other was that I would have liked just a slight explanation to what the ending means. It was left to a lot of interpretation.
In the end, this movie is a sci-fi film that I don't think we have seen in a few years, and the sad thing is, I don't think that it will get much press. Why is beyond me. I would recommend seeing this on the big screen if you are a real sci-fi film junkie, but keep it to a matinee. The cost of movies makes me reserve the big blockbuster films to the at-night, full-cost feature film, but this film is shot in such a way that, if you have to wait for this movie on DVD, nothing about the movie will lose any charm on the small screen.
