The Signal

Parental Rating: PG-13

Contains: Language    Violence    Adult Content    

Jill's Review

Opens June 13, 2014

Runs 105 minutes

Three students are on a cross country trip, Nic (Brenton Thwaites), Jonah (Beau Knapp) and Haley (Olivia Cooke) to drop Haley off for a year of study in California. Slowly, we learn that Nic and Jonah are MIT students studying some kind of computer technology. While at school, their server had been hacked by a mysterious "NOMAD".  Once on the road, NOMAD hacks into their computers again and they decide to track him down and confront him. Once they reach the cabin in the woods where the hacker signal lead them, they discover nothing at first. Then, Haley (who was supposed to stay locked in the car) screams. They rush out only to find all of the car doors open and Haley missing. In the eerie darkness, they hear Haley and all we see is her body suddenly jerked into space. The next thing we know, Nic wakes up in what appears to be a hospital containment wing. Suddenly Dr. Damon (Laurence Fishburne) appears and takes Nic to be interrogated. He continues to ask questions while answering none of Nic's. Nic sees Haley in another room and learns that she is in a coma. He is able to talk to Jonah through the air vent. Eventually, they are able to make a break for it and then things get really wacky. What is going on?  Who knows?

This movie started off really good. It seemed like a decent thriller, maybe even with some horror elements. Then it turns very sci-fi. So, I liked the first half and then I was very confused for the second half. I thought the idea of the movie was clever and I thought the cast overall was very good. The reveal at the end was a little unclear. I'm sure that was they way it was intended, but I like my movies a little more tied up with a bow. If you are a sci-fi geek, there are some very interesting moments in this film. Otherwise, I say skip it and see something more entertaining.

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