'THE SIGNAL': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Indie sci-fi thriller about three MIT students, on a road trip, who decide to chase down an infamous hacker (that almost got them expelled from school) and find something much more nightmarish. The film was directed by William Eubank; who also wrote and directed another ambitious indie sci-fi flick, in 2011, called 'LOVE' (which was produced by the popular alternative rock band 'Angels & Airwaves'). Eubank also wrote this film; with David Frigerio and Carlyle Eubank. It stars Brenton Thwaites, Laurence Fishburne, Olivia Cooke, Beau Knapp and Lin Shaye. I found it to be visually spectacular, and interesting enough, to make it a pretty entertaining thrill ride; despite a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion.

The film tells the story of Nic (Thwaites),Haley (Cooke) and Jonah (Knapp); three MIT students on a road trip to California. Nic and Jonah are dropping Haley off there and this has caused some troubles in Nic and Haley's relationship. Nic has muscular dystrophy issues, in his legs, that he also feels are causing Haley to not reach her full potential. While on the trip Nic and Jonah discover a hacker is in the area, named NOMAD, that almost got them expelled from school (for breaking into college servers). They decide to track him down and follow his signal to an old abandoned house in Nevada. Once there something else finds them and it might be some kind of weird government conspiracy, or something much worse.

The movie is full of big ideas, that aren't fully explained at all; most of the movie is left up to viewer interpretation. I respect films like that but this one just isn't quite satisfying enough. It's full of a lot of routine stylistic clichés but they are pretty cool to look at. For a $4 million budgeted movie it sure does looks amazing; I'm sure William Eubank has a big future ahead of him. The acting is decent enough and the story is intriguing. It's nowhere near the quality of a great sci-fi flick but it is a lot of fun; if you're a fan of the genre.

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THE SIGNAL is a low rent and somewhat laborious sci-fi thriller that tells a story with familiar concepts. It's one of those films which seems to go out of its way to be deliberately obtuse, throwing in imagery and slow, dream-like moments instead of providing concentrate plotting. The story is about three people who visit a remote installation where a hacker has been interfering with their lives. Once inside, they discover something very odd indeed.

Films like this always seem to me to be less clever than they think they are. Certainly THE SIGNAL makes you work hard trying to figure what's going on but it's only at the very end that the final twist is revealed. I found it largely disappointing, mainly because similar stories have been playing out in the likes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE OUTER LIMITS for decades and there's little new here. Some of the effects aren't bad and there's a nice impassive turn from Laurence Fishburne, but the film further suffers from having such dull lead characters.

Three MIT students are driving cross country to California. Nic (Brenton Thwaites) with his disability seems to be pushing his girlfriend Haley (Olivia Cooke) away. A hacker has been harassing Nic and Jonah (Beau Knapp). They track him to a desert house. Something happens and Nic wakes up in a facility treated by Damon (Laurence Fishburne) in an isolation suit. Haley is unconscious and Jonah is missing. Then he discovers his defective legs have been replaced by some sort of advanced prostheses.

Director William Eubank brings a nice look to a sci-fi premise with some promise. However the writing isn't up to scratch. The story has a couple of problems. Thwaites is not necessarily a big time star in waiting. They need to work on the couple's relationship. Parts of this movie feels overextended. It doesn't quite work.