The Signal (William Eubank, 2014): USA

Reviewed by Karin Eriksson. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2015.

The Signal is a movie about three friends that are on a trip, mainly because one of them, Haley, is moving to California. But we soon find out that Nic and Jonah are also tracking a hacker that has been messing with them. When they find out where he is, they decide to go look for him since it’s on the way to California. When they finally get to the house where the hacker’s signal is coming from, strange things happen that will change their lives. After seeing this movie I have more questions than answers. The movie put a lot of emphasis on the fact that the main character, Nic, is handicapped in some way, he can’t walk without crutches. Throughout the movie, we see flashbacks of his previous life where he can run, but never do we find out what happened to him. This is just one example of events in this movie that never gets explained. Usually in movies when there are mysteries like this, there is an explanation in the end and the story comes full circle. That never happened in this movie, not with anything. I expected at least an explanation of the main action, but I can’t say that I fully understood even that. This movie was very successful visually. It was able to create a good sensation of understanding for the character by sensing his panic with the use of colors and lighting. Another thing that was effective was the extreme close ups on Nic’s face when he talked, and he also talked slow which enhanced the feeling of confusion and entrapment. Sound was also used very effectively in this movie. I think that this movie had a lot of potential in the beginning which it lost along the way by putting unnecessary plot twists that didn’t lead anywhere and elements that was only there to mislead the audience without being able to explain themselves in the end.