Country: USA
Movie Review: “The Signal” is the sophomore feature film from the cinematographer-turned-director, William Eubank, grounded on sci-fi genre, just as his first film from three years ago, “Love”. This time, adopting more thrilling tones, the story focuses on three MIT students, Nick (Brenton Thwaites), Jonah (Beau Knapp) and Haley (Olivia Cooke) who went on a trip to California, deciding to tracking down a hacker known by the name of ‘Nomad’. At night, while entering in a secluded house in Nevada, the two boys pass out after hearing the screams of Haley who was dragged in the air by a strange unknown force. The three of them wake up in a super equipped facility where Dr. William Davon (Laurence Fishburn), protected by his Hazmat suit, is running tests on them, believing they were contaminated by an EBE – extraterrestrial biological entity. Indeed, Eubanks surely knew what he wanted in visual terms and the cinematographer, David Lanzenberg, corresponded in the best way. There are scenes that are memorable but in its will to impress through minimal and predominantly whitish sets, words, and sounds, the mystery itself never enraptured me, even with the surprises reserved by the plot. Its ambiance alternates between static scenes frequently adorned by the mechanical voice of Laurence Fishburn, or the delirious, almost uncontrollable energy of Nick. This human integration with alien technology was a decent one but didn’t gain me as a follower of its far-fetched incursions. Just for sci-fi enthusiasts.
