X
- 2014
- PG-13
- Focus Features
- 1 h 37 m
- 2014
- PG-13
- Focus Features
- 1 h 37 m
Summary Three college students on a road trip across the Southwest experience a detour: the tracking of a computer genius who has already hacked into MIT and exposed security faults. The trio find themselves drawn to an eerily isolated area. Suddenly everything goes dark. When one of the students, Nic (Brenton Thwaites), regains consciousness, h...
Directed By: William Eubank
Written By: Carlyle Eubank, David Frigerio, William Eubank
- 2014
- PG-13
- Focus Features
- 1 h 37 m
- 2014
- PG-13
- Focus Features
- 1 h 37 m
The Signal
54
6.1
Where to Watch
Summary Three college students on a road trip across the Southwest experience a detour: the tracking of a computer genius who has already hacked into MIT and exposed security faults. The trio find themselves drawn to an eerily isolated area. Suddenly everything goes dark. When one of the students, Nic (Brenton Thwaites), regains consciousness, h...
Directed By: William Eubank
Written By: Carlyle Eubank, David Frigerio, William Eubank
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 34 Critic Reviews
54
47% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
44% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
9% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 34 Critic Reviews
54
47% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
44% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
9% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
The best sci-fi trilogy you’ve never seen amalgamated into one organic whole. Surprising, exciting and, at times, strangely beautiful.
If all this sounds like a souped-up episode of "The Twilight Zone" or "The X-Files," then you're in the right ballpark — or underground bunker.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 108 User Ratings
6.1
46% Positive
50 Ratings
50 Ratings
40% Mixed
43 Ratings
43 Ratings
14% Negative
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 108 User Ratings
6.1
46% Positive
50 Ratings
50 Ratings
40% Mixed
43 Ratings
43 Ratings
14% Negative
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
I don't understand the negativity towards this movie. Maybe people are just too dumb to appreciate it? Maybe they think William Eubank had 200 million dollars at his disposal and thought he could have done more with it? (BTW he only had 4 million. Yes, he made this amazing film with just 4 million dollars, while people like Marc Webb and Shane Black are shoving piles of crap down our throats that took them 200 million to make). So bravo to you William Eubank, you are a true artist, and I appreciate your work. Hopefully we can see a sequel to this in the near future.
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While it’s hard to make sense of the narrative developments in The Signal, it must be said that it’s always visually compelling. And that some of the standout sequences (including, yes, the Mind-Blowing Twist Ending) suggest that Eubank could have a terrific future as a director. As a screenwriter, though, maybe not so much.
Acting (and story) take a back seat to the visual display. Eubank shows confidence with each shot, whether it takes place in a desert vista or a clinical government slab. What's it all mean? It's unclear, except meaning that Eubank is a talent to watch.
Eubank’s talent for creating impressive worlds with few resources is the movie's strongest aspect, but the concept feels like a never-ending exposition of technique without sufficient depth.
As I watched the minimal plot unfold at a glacial pace in claustrophobic settings, I found myself wondering where the rest of the movie was.
The Signal starts off as an alien version of "Blair Witch Project" and then drifts off into cold plotlessness. But for a while, a little while, it seems like it just might be interesting.
I like a film that barely has plot. It leaves a film shrouded in mystery, and avoids the typical clichés I am sick of rolling my eyes at. Also, it feels different from the modern, big-budget sci-fi movies that keep being rolled out, which all seem as generic, and unimaginative, as the last. The film is almost agonisingly slow-paced. However, so was The Martian; at least this film gives you some revelations to look forward to (ps. I hated The Martian). A few plot points seemed ignored, a few scenes were noticeably over-the-top relative to the rest of the film, and the final third could of been done better. Nevertheless, its interesting throughout, well directed, and provides something different in the increasingly bland sci-fi genre.
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This is a pretty sound and decent science fiction movie. I thought that the beginning was a little slow and the music depressing, saying that they were friends on a road trip. Though after twenty minutes of character building you could relate and empathise with the lead roles, could have been done with a bit more oompf though. The rest of the film is solid and Fishburne does an excellent portrayal of a man who lets absolutely nothing crack his calm and cool exterior. If you Like Sci-Fi then this is worth a watch.
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Interesting ending and atmosphere of the film, but that's the only thing I liked about the film. Even if the movie about an hour and a half, you still will say when it will end. It doesn't mean the movie is bad, but it doesn't belong among the elite either.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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This film was incredibly boring at times, possibly because the director and screenwriter were narratively challenged and didn’t know how to tell what story (if there was one, which is questionable) they had in mind. On the other hand, I was sometimes arrested by some of the wonderful images in the film. What this director needs to do is sit down and suffer like the rest of us (but multiple times) and figure out with brutal honesty what he did right and what he did wrong. There is obvious talent here, but sometimes this film is so dull that you never want to see another movie (at least by this person and with these actors) for the rest of your life. But I guess this is how people learn?
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Production Company
Automatik Entertainment,
BCD Travel,
Low Spark Films,
Signal Film Group
Release Date Jun 13, 2014
Duration 1 h 37 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline R U Agitated?
Awards
BloodGuts UK Horror Awards
• 2 Nominations
Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Golden Trailer Awards
• 1 Nomination
