Brenton Thwaites
Olivia Cooke
Beau Knapp
Lin Shaye
Robert Longstreet
Laurence Fishburne

Carlyle Eubank
David Frigerio
William Eubank

97 mins.
Sci-Fi, Thriller
June 13, 2014

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements, violence and language. (MPAA)

“The Signal” isn’t what you’d expect from a sci-fi film about aliens that’s been marketed during the summer season. It actually has more of an indie sensibility than a mainstream one; it’s an indie film, after all, though the marketing doesn’t give any hints of that. It’s about ideas and words, instead of special effects. In some ways, it’s closer to Shane Carruth’s “Prime” or “Monsters” than it is to “Chronicle” or “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

At the beginning of this film, the main character, Nic Eastman, is introduced in a disarming way. He helps a kid figure out how to get a stuffed animal out of a claw crane arcade game. This opening scene shows that Nic has technical prowess and that he has a heart. It’s a gentle, effortless way to get the audience to care about Nic and to introduce the film’s main themes. And it only took a few minutes to execute. We also find out that Nic uses forearm crutches (we don’t know why, yet) and that he’s self-sufficient despite them. That simple scene contained a lot of important information.

As a result of that introduction, it’s easier to care when Nic, along with his girlfriend and best friend, are provoked by NOMAD (a supposed computer genius); the key to the story lies in NOMAD’s name.

In addition to its indie sensibilities, this film borrows a lot from horror-thrillers. We don’t see the aliens, for instance (we get a brief glimpse at one point), instead we’re shown the psychic trauma caused by the aliens. Essentially, this film asks about the nature of reality. How do you know that what you’re experiencing is real? Does that matter? How should you respond to that?

“The Signal” also has the markers of an escape film. But this is low-budget stuff handled in a stylistically smart way. They don’t need to show the aliens, for instance; because if you choose your special effects wisely, you can make your money go a long way. That’s what happens here. There aren’t a lot of special effects, but they’re effective when used.

From the beginning, this film establishes a nice pace and rhythm. However, it doesn’t use that pacing to springboard into anything new. So, after a while, the film stalls; it gets stuck in the same rhythm for too long.

And that’s this film’s flaw: its consistently one-note pacing. It just doesn’t compel. Its pace would likely be a little too slow for many contemporary sci-fi viewers. However, it would work for people who love “2001: A Space Odyssey” (while sober) or “THX 1138” (whose style has some relationship to this film’s style during the interior scenes).

“The Signal” is a decent film created with care. But there isn’t enough narrative power to drive its message home.

Verdict: OK to Somewhat Good

About: (Source: thesignal)

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 of The Giver and Maleficent), regains consciousness, he is in a waking nightmare…