"Signal" - reviews. "Signal": a summary, actors

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Easily reviewed, The Signal (2014) is a sci-fi thriller released in the US on January 20 this year. It was directed by William Eubank, who already has one film titled "Love" in his piggy bank, also related to the theme of adventures in space. Despite the participation in the film of Laurence Fishburne, the star of The Matrix, the reviews of the film The Signal received mixed reviews from both the audience and film critics.

Feed Creators

William Eubank acted as both a screenwriter and director of the picture, as he did earlier in his debut film "Love". Eubank worked as a cinematographer for a long time before trying his hand at directing (2006's "Hooked" and 2007's "First" shorts, 2010's "Crossfire", "House of the Rising Sun" 2010and "Passionate Desire" 2012). In addition, in some films he acted as a producer, artist and editor.

Eubank's second film The Signal was released by Entertainment One and Focus Features. Tyler Davidson (Summer Kings 2013) and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Shelter 2011) were brought in as producers. The film's cinematographer David Lanzenberg, before joining the film crew of The Signal, had no experience in a big movie and participated only in short projects.

But about the musical accompaniment of the film, on which the composer Nima Fakhrara worked, director Eubank talks with particular enthusiasm: according to him, Fakhrara himself made the instruments on which the music was performed.

"Signal" summary

Three young people - Nick, Jonah and their friend Haley - are expelled from MIT for sabotage. The friends were accused of allegedly hacking the university's server and causing irreparable damage to the database. However, Nick, Jonah and Hayley figured out the real culprit - a certain hacker Nomad. Moreover, when they returned home to California, the mysterious Nomad contacted them and continued to escalate the situation, sending mocking messages, then connecting to the webcam of Hailey's laptop.

Jona and Nick decide to teach the stranger a lesson, calculate his IP and go to the specified address, but they find only an old abandoned building there. While they are checking it out, someone attacks their friend Hailey, who is waiting for her friends outside. Hearing her screams, Nickand Jonah run out into the street, but in the dark they can't make out anything and pass out from shock.

Next, Nick wakes up and realizes that he is in some unusual research laboratory. Dr. William Damon asks the young man strange, sometimes stupid questions, experiments on him, refuses to give information about his friends. One day, Nick manages to see which part of the building Hayley is in - the girl was in a coma. Nick plans to escape, trying to free his girlfriend at the same time, but everything ends in failure.

Waking up with her in the same room, Nick discovers that instead of legs he was implanted with ultra-modern prostheses. He again attempts to escape with Hayley - this time successfully. However, the world they find themselves in looks somehow unnatural. Nick discovers that he can reach supersonic speeds with his new prosthetics. He hides with Hayley in an abandoned house, where he accidentally discovers John, who was also a victim of the experiment: super-strong cybernetic devices were installed instead of hands for a young man.

First, John and Nick assume that they are in a virtual world developed at Area 51, a famous American military base. Friends decide to move forward along the only road that exists in this virtual world, but an ambush awaits them there. An injured Jonah remains at one of the roadblocks to allow his friends to move forward unhindered. Nick and Hayley drive on, but as they try to break throughroad blockade of the police, roll over in their truck.

Wounded Hayley is immediately taken away by helicopter, and Dr. Damon finally tells Nick directly 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 Hayley, chases the 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 intent

William Eubank claims that the 1983 TV project The Twilight Zone inspired him to create such a scenario. This is especially true for the twisted ending involved in the film Signal (2014), reviews of which were rather negative, because the viewer did not see a clear outcome of the story.

However, William Eubank in an interview claims that the denouement in this picture is not so important. The main thing is to follow the path of Nick's spiritual development, who, in an extraordinary situation, suddenly opens up and turns from an ordinary guy into a real hero, ready to stand up for himself and his friends.

Cast

Starring Brenton Thwaites (Nick Eastman) and Laurence Fishburne (Dr. Damon) in The Signal.

Brenton Thwaites is better known as a member of the Blue Lagoon (2012) and Maleficent (2014) film projects. In both paintings, he embodied inlife is 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 roles for a while and try something new.

The most successful work of Laurence Fishburne is the role of Morpheus in the sensational "Matrix". In The Signal, Fishburne's character Damon is as taciturn, focused, and enigmatic as the iconic Morpheus. In fact, the actor did not bring anything new to the new image.

In addition, young actress Olivia Cooke (TV series Bates Motel 2013) and actor Beau Knapp (Nobody Lived 2012) took part in the film.

Premieres

On January 20, 2014, The Signal was presented at the Sundance Film Festival in the States. Almost six months later, it was shown at the Seattle International Film Festival, and only on June 13 it was released. 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 viewers came to it. Around the same time, "Signal" was seen by Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Then the picture was shown in Canada, Sweden, Lebanon, South Africa, Spain and, finally, the UK.

Budget

Despite the fact that "Signal" received negative reviews from Russian critics, the box office in the US was 70 thousand dollars less than in Russia. One way or another, the picture did not pay off, because with a budget of $ 4 million, only 2 million were raised.

Ratings

Thriller "Signal" (2014) was awarded a rating of 6.20 by visitors to the well-known IMDb site. Of the total number of reviews written for the film around the world, only 56% are positive, in Russia - about 30%.

"Signal": reviews

Professional film critics give the director a big plus for the fact that with a small budget he managed to achieve a good level of special effects and computer graphics. But you can only enjoy them for a few minutes before the end of the movie.

The film "Signal" gets the following feedback from viewers: they note that too long plot plot from the very beginning extinguishes interest in what is happening on the screen. Only at the 25th minute of the film, Nick and his friends find themselves in a mysterious research center, in fact, then at least some intrigue appears. That is, if you wish, you can rewind the film for half an hour, and the essence will not change much.

Further, one after another, some mysterious events begin to occur, and it is not entirely clear what this is all leading to. It seems that when the denouement comes, something incredible will open up to the viewer, a powerful point in the development of the plot suggests itself. She could have saved the movie. But the director does not put an end to it, but only opens the beginning of a new story: now Nick has escaped from virtual reality, he is flying somewhere on a spaceship. And many questions remain. And what will happen next with Nick, will he go crazy from these events, and where are Hayley and John actually hidden, were they realduring the entire movie, or was it only Nick who got on the spaceship in the first place?

In a word, there are no answers, and the viewer is forced to invent the end on their own. However, thriller lovers are unlikely to buy movie tickets and wait tensely for 90 minutes of denouement in order to be left with nothing later. So the film "Signal" deserved controversial reviews precisely for its not fully thought out plot. Perhaps, and very superficial images of the characters.

Interesting facts

The film "Signal" (2014) reviews of the finale is very controversial, although the climax was filmed in one of the most picturesque places in the United States. Eubank moved the shooting of the interchange to a huge bridge 172 meters high, located in the state of New Mexico.

But in terms of musical design, the film "Signal" received enthusiastic reviews, primarily from the director of the picture. The soundtrack was composed by composer Nima Fakhrara, who developed several unique, experimental instruments specifically for scoring the tape and creating the right atmosphere.

In conclusion, I would like to say that each tape, of course, has its own audience. But if you like more fast-paced films with clear endings, then it is better to prefer another thriller.