The film "Signal" (2014), reviews of which can be easily found, is a tape in the genre of a fantastic thriller, released in the United States on January 20 this year. Its director was William Eubank, in the piggy bank of which there is already one film work called "Love", also related to the theme of space adventures. Despite the participation in the film by Lawrence Fishburne, the stars of The Matrix, the film Signal received mixed reviews from both the audience and film critics.
Tape creators
William Eubank acted both as a screenwriter and director of the picture, as he had done earlier in his debut film Love. Before Eubank began to try his hand at directing, he worked for a long time as a cameraman (short films 2006 and First 2007, films Under Crossfire 2010, House of the Rising Sun 2010 and “Passion” 2012). In addition, in some paintings, he acted as a producer, artist and editor.
Eubank’s second film, Signal, was released by Entertainment One and Focus Features. Tyler Davidson (Kings of Summer 2013) and Brian Cavanah-Jones (Shelter 2011) were brought in as producers. The cameraman of the film David Lantsenberg, before he got into the crew of the Signal, had no experience in big films and participated only in short films.
But the film’s musical accompaniment, which was compiled by the composer Nima Fakhrara, is directed by Eubank with particular enthusiasm: according to him, Fakhrara personally made the instruments on which the music was performed.
“Signal”: summary
Three young people - Nick, John and their girlfriend Haley - are expelled from MIT for sabotage. Friends were accused of allegedly hacking the university’s server and causing irreparable damage to the database. However, Nick, John and Haley figured out the real culprit - a certain hacker Nomeda. Moreover, when they returned home to California, the mysterious Nomed contacted them and continued to escalate the situation, either sending mocking messages or connecting to the Haley’s laptop webcam.
John and Nick decide to teach a lesson to the unknown, calculate his IP and go to the specified address, but they find only an old abandoned building there. While they examine him, someone attacks their friend Haley, who is waiting for friends outside. Hearing her screams, Nick and John run out into the street, but in the dark they can’t make out anything and lose consciousness from shock.
Then Nick comes to his senses and realizes that he is in some unusual research laboratory. Dr. William Damon asks the young man strange, sometimes silly questions, conducts experiments on him, refuses to provide information about his friends. One day, Nick manages to see in which part of the building Haley is - the girl was in a coma. Nick plans to escape, trying to free his girlfriend at the same time, but it all ends in failure.
Having woken up with her in the same room, Nick discovers that instead of legs he was implanted with ultra-modern prostheses. He again makes an attempt to flee with Haley - this time successfully. However, the world in which they ended up looks somehow unnatural. Nick discovers that he can develop supersonic speed on his new dentures. He is hiding with Haley in an abandoned house, where he accidentally discovers John, who also became a victim of the experiment: instead of the hands of a young man, they installed ultra-strong cybernetic devices.
At first, John and Nick suggest that they are in a virtual world developed at Site 51, a well-known US military base. Friends decide to move forward along the only road existing in this virtual world, but there they will be ambushed. Wounded John remains at one of the checkpoints to allow his friends to move forward unhindered. Nick and Haley drive further, but, trying to break through the road blockade of the police, they roll over in their truck.
The wounded Haley was immediately taken away by helicopter, and Dr. Damon finally directly tells Nick that he participated in a unique experiment and became an exemplary creation of an extraterrestrial civilization - a creature in which cybernetic power is combined with human emotionality. Nick, not wanting to lose sight of Haley, chases after a helicopter, but as a result breaks through the "screen" and finds himself in a completely different world. And this world is located on a spaceship that is heading towards an unknown planet.
Director's intention
William Eubank claims that he was inspired by the 1983 Twilight Zone television project to create such a script. This is especially true for the involved shifter ending in the film “Signal” (2014), the reviews about which were rather negative, because the viewer did not see a clear outcome of the story.
However, William Eubank in an interview claims that just the denouement in this picture is not so important. The main thing is to trace the path of Nick's spiritual development, which in an unusual situation suddenly opens up and turns from an ordinary guy into a real hero, ready to fend for himself and his friends.
Cast
Actors Brenton Thwaites (Nick Eastman) and Lawrence Fishburne (Dr. Damon) played the lead roles in the movie The Signal.
Brenton Thwaites is better known as a participant in the film projects Blue Lagoon (2012) and Maleficent (2014). In both paintings, he brought to life the image of an irresistible handsome man, the so-called hero-lover. Therefore, the role of Nick Eastman can be called an attempt to change the role for a while and try something new.
The most successful work of Lawrence Fishburne is considered the role of Morpheus in the acclaimed "The Matrix". In The Signal, Fishburn's character Damon is as laconic, focused on his task and mysterious as the iconic Morpheus. In fact, the actor brought nothing new to the new image.
In addition, the film was attended by a young actress Olivia Cook (TV series "Bates Motel" in 2013) and actor Bo Napp ("Nobody survived" in 2012).
Premieres
January 20, 2014 the picture "Signal" was presented at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States. Almost six months later, she was shown at the International Film Festival in Seattle, and only on June 13 she went on rental. In July, residents of Germany and South Korea were able to get acquainted with the tape, and in August the film was shown in Slovenia, Malaysia and the Philippines. In Russia, the premiere took place in September, almost 189 thousand spectators came to it. Around the same time, Ukraine and Kazakhstan saw the Signal. Then the picture was shown in Canada, Sweden, Lebanon, South Africa, Spain and, finally, Great Britain.
Budget
Despite the fact that the “Signal” received negative reviews from Russian critics, the box office in the United States turned out to be 70 thousand dollars less than in Russia. One way or another, but the picture did not pay off, because with a budget of $ 4 million, only 2 million were managed to be raised.
Ratings
Thriller "Signal" (2014) reviews of visitors to the famous site IMDb awarded a rating of 6.20. Of the total number of reviews written on the film worldwide, only 56% are positive, in Russia - about 30%.
"Signal": reviews
Professional film critics give a big plus to the director for the fact that with a small budget he managed to achieve a good level of special effects and computer graphics. But you can enjoy them only for a few minutes before the end of the film.
The film "Signal" receives the following reviews from the audience: they note that a too long plot plot dampens the interest in what is happening on the screen from the very beginning. Only in the 25th minute of the film, Nick and his friends get into a mysterious research center, in fact, then there is at least some kind of intrigue. That is, if you want, you can rewind the movie for half an hour, and the essence will not change much.
Then, one after another, some mysterious events begin to occur, and it is not entirely clear what this all leads to. It seems that when the denouement comes, the viewer will discover something incredible, a powerful point in the development of the plot begs itself. She could save the film. But the director does not put an end, but only opens the beginning of a new story: here Nick escaped from virtual reality, he flies somewhere on a spaceship. And many questions remain. But what will happen next with Nick, will he get away from these events, and where are Haley and John actually hidden, were they real during the whole movie, or was Nick only originally hit the spaceship ?
In short, there are no answers, and the viewer is forced to come up with an end on his own. However, it is unlikely that thriller lovers buy movie tickets and are anxiously waiting for 90 minutes of denouement in order to then be left with nothing. So the film "Signal" deserves controversial descent precisely because of its incompletely thought out plot. Perhaps very superficial images of characters.
Interesting Facts
The film “Signal” (2014) has very controversial reviews of the finale, although the climax was filmed in one of the most picturesque places in the United States. Eubank filming the denouement transferred to a huge bridge 172 meters high, located in the state of New Mexico.
But in terms of musical design, the film “Signal” received rave reviews, primarily from the director of the picture. The composer Nima Fahrara worked on the soundtrack, who specially for sounding the tape and creating the right atmosphere developed several unique, experimental instruments.
In conclusion, I want to say that each film undoubtedly has its own audience. But if you like more dynamic pictures with clear endings, it is better to prefer another thriller.