Film: The Signal
Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Olivia Cooke
Directed by: William Eubank

Coming of age films are a dime a dozen these days. Between the affordability of decent camera equipment and an ever-increasing number of ways to share original video content with the world, it seems everyone has a story about growing up they want to share. This is all well and fine, of course, because audiences love stories like this and for whatever reason always support them at the box office. Filmmakers hoping to make a name for themselves in this world, however, face immense competition from peers and fellow newcomers alike. Making a film that stands out, let alone changes the way people consider the genre, is next to impossible, but I dare say William Eubank has accomplished just that with The Signal.

Starting off as so many coming of age stories do, The Signal opens with a group of friends in the midst of a cross-country road trip to assist one member of the group in moving out west. They are traveling somewhere along the southern United States when we first meet them, and to be honest there is not much to see beyond the exterior of the car. For as far as the eye can see there is dessert, often complete with tumbleweeds, though the main characters do not seem to care because, after all, they have one another.

As the latest day of the group’s journey gives way to night, a number of things become clear: Two of the three friends are dating, neither one in the relationship knows whether or not this move is a good thing, and the two male members of the group cannot help fighting their basic nerd urges to hack and otherwise cyber attack people, places, and things whenever time allows. Hacking is a pastime for these friends, and on the first night we meet them they encounter an entity online they have been trying to locate for a long time. Things go awry, but before they disconnect they figure out where this mystery individual lives and decide to pay them a visit. Unfortunately for our leads, everything is not as it seems, and their arrival at this supposed stranger’s home kicks off a series of strange events that defies all logic and understanding of the universe around us.

There is a mystery at the heart of The Signal that I refuse to give away in this review, but for the sake of explaining the plot I will say that the days following the friends’ arrival at the mystery home are some of the most challenging they will ever experience. They are separated and made to feel like science experiments, which in fact they may be, but no matter how loud they scream or how hard they cry no one will give them any answers. It’s not quite a twist worthy of a horror film, but it’s damn close, and it will leave you guessing until the very last frames.

The Signal is not a coming of age film in the classic sense, though that fact should have been incredibly clear at this point. Instead, the film uses a science fiction based puzzle to force viewers to join the lead protagonist in his search for answers. It begins with typical inquiries on how one is supposed to spend their life and whom they should spend it with, then swells to include bigger questions like our purpose in the universe and whether or not aliens exist. At the end of the day, however, it all comes back to the story of a boy and girl trying to figure things out, and it’s largely due to that relatable core that The Signal succeeds on so many levels.

The puzzle element of The Signal does raise some red flags, and there will no doubt be some who see through the film’s mystery long before the final twist has been executed on screen. For these people, I am not sure how much of The Signal will be enjoyed. To fully experience everything the film has to offer viewers must first accept that there are things about this life they do not fully understand. There are questions, big questions, that no one can answer even though people have pondered them for centuries. The Signal asks us to face those unknowns head-on, and for those willing to do so the rewards are many.

William Eubank is not a household name at this point, and that is likely because his only other feature film was a collaborative effort with the rock band Angels And Airwaves, but in this movie he more than proves himself capable of creating magic on the big screen. There are moments in The Signal that suspend belief with such eye-popping beauty that you would expect to see a name like Snyder or Abrams tacked on as executive producer, but in fact it is all Eubank. If he does not land a major studio film with this picture there is something seriously wrong with Hollywood.

Score: A-

Written by: James Shotwell Follow @utgjames

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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