THE SIGNAL Review - Mind Bending Sc-Fi Thriller: Sundance '14
The Signal was a very pleasant surprise. This was a very well made sci-fi thriller. It's always nice to see a low budget sci-fi done right. With the development of any movie, the main focus should be the story and script. If those are good, then everything else should fall into place, and it did with The Signal. The film didn't rely heavily on special effects, it's just is one of those movies that has a fantastic story with very likable characters. From the opening shot of the film and the first introduction we have of the characters, I knew I was going to like this movie no matter where it went, and it went to some pretty crazy places!
The story follows three friends, two of which are MIT students who are into hacking. They are on a cross country road trip to California, and along the way they are being harassed by a rival hacker named Nomad. While driving through Nevada they find the location of the hacker and decide to take a detour to pay him a visit. They end up in the middle of the desert at an abounded house, and from there things take a turn for the worse. The friends are separated, and they wake up to find themselves in some kind of government facility where they are being held captive, told they are contaminated, and questioned about themselves and put through some tests. As they are there they begin to discover they are part of something a lot more epic than they imagined.
The film had plenty of fun twists and turns to keep the audience guessing about what was really going on. I had my theories while watching the movie, some of which were right. But, I didn't realize the level to where they would take it. I was impressed by what this movie delivered. It had drama, action, comedy, and really cool sci-fi elements. They did some fantastic and surprising stuff with the special effects as well. There's a lot of work and love that was put into this movie and it sure paid off.
The movie was co-written and directed by William Eubank and it stars Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke, Beau Knapp, and Laurence Fishburne. All of the actors did a fantastic job, and the direction was pretty amazing. It was seriously a beautifully shot film with amazing cinematography.
I really hope that this movie gets a theatrical release because it deserves to be seen on the big screen. The Signal has definitely made it on my list of favorite films at Sundance, and it's a movie I know most of you will enjoy watching. With the right marketing I could see this movie being a decent hit, and also find a cult following. Just see the movie whenever you get a chance! It's a mind-bending experience.