Read Negative User Reviews for The Signal (2014)

0

TheBitiqueNov 24, 2014

After watching this I had a new least favorite movie. This movie is one of those that is so confusing it makes you get a brain tumor that lies dormant for 30 years until you discover it too late. This brain tumor will kill the person andAfter watching this I had a new least favorite movie. This movie is one of those that is so confusing it makes you get a brain tumor that lies dormant for 30 years until you discover it too late. This brain tumor will kill the person and leave behind mourning family and friends. In the end you figure out what has been going on, but it's just not an ending that brings any closure at all. The ending in my opinion is just a cheap way of ending the movie to close plot holes but carelessly open new ones. This movie is worst than holding a cat that was just fed pure caffeine up to a black chalk board while poking it with a needle.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

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3

Brent_MarchantJun 14, 2014

An overly cryptic, snail's-paced sci-fi offering that fails to deliver, even with its biggest disclosures. Truly unfortunate, too, since there was definitely some potential here. However, underdeveloped writing and a directorial sense in needAn overly cryptic, snail's-paced sci-fi offering that fails to deliver, even with its biggest disclosures. Truly unfortunate, too, since there was definitely some potential here. However, underdeveloped writing and a directorial sense in need of further maturity keep this release from being all it could have been.… Expand

5 of 9 users found this helpful54

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1

omonriseJul 2, 2014

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So you see Morpheus and think "dude, he is not human". You see that ridiculously outdated lab together with the high-tech "legs" and you think "ok, the aliens have them". The movie sacrifices any realism to create some cheap comic book moments (e.g. when the dude slams the ground, wtf, his arms should have been destroyed).

On a more general note, the pacing utterly sucks, there is no logic whatsoever behind the characters' actions, and neither is there any behind the actions of the antagonists / aliens. The protagonist is cliché hacker genius of the 21st century, his gf is cliché emotionally unstable supporting female character, his illness is presented in such a way that you get the feeling someone just decided to include this "perk" during character creation. There is no emotional struggle apart from "OMG MY GF IS IN COMA Q_Q", the characters don't reflect at all, (for example, you are in a supposedly high-sec facility and you are intelligent enough to draw a comprehensive plan of how it's build etc., but it never occurs to you that it's mightily strange that they didn't include any entropy in their patrolling patterns? COME ON.)

But be it as it may, plot holes, ignoring physics, shallow characters - you can compensate all that with a good story and good visuals. The movie does deliver on the visuals, but everything that happens in it just has no point. Absolutely none. There is not a single logical reason for ANYTHING in the storyline to happen. You find yourself thinking "ok, so that just happened. cool." ALL THE TIME. It's like the director / producer wrote literally 1 paragraph, then drugged someone to lend them money. And the visuals? sure, they are astoundingly beautiful, but in the end this just makes you sad because so many talented CGI artists / filmmakers are wasting their careers working on such mindless junk when they could be creating inspiring and beautiful movies.… Expand

3 of 6 users found this helpful33

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3

ozymandias79Nov 28, 2014

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Good movies don't need a point but bad movies without a point are f****** pointless. Morpheus...ahhh...I mean Laurence Fishburne plays a face attached to some wires in a movie that is supposed to have a shock ending but was so completely nonsensical that it almost makes you laugh. It gets a 2 for Olivia Cooke and a 1 for almost passable special effects.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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1

gvnnmthmsOct 12, 2014

the storyline was a tad boring.the dryness of the character played by lawrence fishburn(btw i love this guys work). i hated this movie.it sucked sci-fi balls. font buy dont buy dont watch. this movie took so long to get to the point,not onlythe storyline was a tad boring.the dryness of the character played by lawrence fishburn(btw i love this guys work). i hated this movie.it sucked sci-fi balls. font buy dont buy dont watch. this movie took so long to get to the point,not only was the story extremely cryptic. but it didnt explain why they where taken,why they wher given alien technology,how did they end up on a ship, and who the **** where the people in the supposed area 51?. who ever created this film deserves a acorn shoved up their "you know what". **** this movie… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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3

GinaKJun 22, 2014

This film was incredibly boring at times, possibly because the director and screenwriter were narratively challenged and didn’t know how to tell what story (if there was one, which is questionable) they had in mind. On the other hand, I wasThis film was incredibly boring at times, possibly because the director and screenwriter were narratively challenged and didn’t know how to tell what story (if there was one, which is questionable) they had in mind. On the other hand, I was sometimes arrested by some of the wonderful images in the film. What this director needs to do is sit down and suffer like the rest of us (but multiple times) and figure out with brutal honesty what he did right and what he did wrong. There is obvious talent here, but sometimes this film is so dull that you never want to see another movie (at least by this person and with these actors) for the rest of your life. But I guess this is how people learn?… Expand

3 of 7 users found this helpful34

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0

AnonJJun 15, 2014

Ridiculous movie in all aspects: theme, writing and organization. This pathetic theme of "emotion over rationality" is so cliche and lame that I almost want to vomit whenever I see this kind of gross generalization, especially presented inRidiculous movie in all aspects: theme, writing and organization. This pathetic theme of "emotion over rationality" is so cliche and lame that I almost want to vomit whenever I see this kind of gross generalization, especially presented in such a lame way. If people keep being inculcated in this way no wonder why irrationality runs so amok in our daily lives. Come on! What human beings lack is more basic rationality, not ridiculous acts based on primordial instincts, which should long have been phased out during such a long evolutional process. Unfortunate there will always be movies which cater to people's laziness to ration, it just plain sucks.

On the writing the plot is basically without any sense. How could a "person who lives on rationality and logic" be "living a traditional and secure life" and be "the pride of family"? I can't imagine any person who lives rationality who claims himself to be a conservative, as conservative social norms are rife with irrational nonsense which is out of sync with our reality and against human nature, and which only serves to bring disasters and misfortunes. On this very basis the movie commits a terrible error. Not to mention the behaviors of the figures and the progression of the story are both laughably inexplicable. So this is the "emotion side" the director is trying to tell? Terrible.

Definitely not recommended.… Expand

3 of 7 users found this helpful34

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0

voidersJun 18, 2016

Horrible movie. The sctipt is awlful and pointless. Bad from beginning to the end. First of all, IP doesn't show where prople are with precision of meters. It's a offense to us. Second, has bad sountrack all the time. And to finish,Horrible movie. The sctipt is awlful and pointless. Bad from beginning to the end. First of all, IP doesn't show where prople are with precision of meters. It's a offense to us. Second, has bad sountrack all the time. And to finish, horrible end, horrible actors, alot of drama with no point. The "punch" at the end and all drama of the boy running make me laugh. One of the worst movie that I ever seen.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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2

DickPainJul 4, 2016

Pretty rubbish. Akira/Truman Show/Matrix. Silly story, Fishbourne playing another Morpheus-like character. Everything that happens is meaningless until the final 30 second twist at the end, which doesn't redeem the movie,

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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2

AmyBeneventoMar 19, 2021

I was intrigued and confused when watching this film.

The beginning drew me in. The acting was natural, and the characters were defined, but I wondered what the heck was going on. As I continued watching, I experienced more and moreI was intrigued and confused when watching this film.

The beginning drew me in. The acting was natural, and the characters were defined, but I wondered what the heck was going on. As I continued watching, I experienced more and more confusion, and dozens of questions were never answered.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

What disease does Nic have? Multiple sclerosis? Something else? Like everything in this movie, it's not explained. I guess "open-endedness" is supposed to be cool and artistic. I do appreciate movies that are open-ended, but this was too extreme for me, where I understood next to nothing, and as the film progress, so did my confusion.

Even the camera work was confusing. The scene of Nic and Jonah in the deserted house looking for NOMAD was intriguing and held my interest, but the scenes were quick and hard to follow. Then Haley screams, and they rush outside to find her missing from the car, and then there's this bright light. What happened? I couldn't see. I pressed REWIND and had to view the scene a couple of times to see what was going on, but I couldn't make it out. Was it an explosion? Did someone clobber then over their head and their vision went white? Again (and again and again), I didn't know what was going on.

Then the confusion got even worse.

Was Dr. Damon trying to help them? Was was he so very cold and detached? Why wouldn't he answer any of Nic's questions?

Why was Nic tatooed? Why was Dr. Damon giving Nic simple questions such as "what color is this?"

I love films that make you think, but throughout this film, I kept asking "What?" and "Why?!?" and "Huh?!?"

Then, the most confusing part... Dr. Damon shows Nic a film of Nic and Jonah in the house searching for NOMAD, then the film stops at a tree, and Nic is shocked. Why? Once again, I played back the scene. What was so shocking about the tree? Huh? What?

Why did Dr. Damon tell Nic that Jonah was never in the facility?
Why did Dr. D. keep Nic apart from Haley?
Why did the staff pull Nic's hands away from Haley?

What the heck was with the cow?!?!?
Again, that was never explained.

Why were there dark streaks on the wall?

How did Nic's neck get cut so badly?

After they break out, why are all the people in the barren dessert acting like mental zombies? If the alien experiments made them that way, why wasn't Nic and Jonah and Haley acting like mental zombies? (well, Haley kind of was).

Why couldn't Jonah remove his gloves? What was going on with his hands? I, for the hundredth time, had to rewind the film and replay, but dialogue was mumbled and the scenes were too quick to see what was going on.

If they gave Nic new legs, and Jonah new arms (which I finally figured out in the end when Jonah had super-powers and took out the metal post that kept their 4-wheeler truck from moving), why didn't they fix Jonah's eyes?

Why the quick reference to Area 51?
Were they in Area 51? Again, this was never explained or taken any further than just a quick reference or statement suggesting Area 51. There were hundreds of references that were never taken any further.

If Damon's team worked so hard on these humans to make them super human with alien technology, why did they decide to kill them with a gun, after investing so much in them? And if they had such super alien technology, why use such archaic guns? This film just didn't make sense.

Why did Jonah not die immediately after dozens of bullets pummeled his back?

Haley is evacuated by helicopter -- is this by Dr. Damon's crew, or the outside world rescuing her? Guess we'll never know. They don't explain that either.

And what in god's name did Nic break into in the end? It looks like he entered a computer game, like TRON. I was hoping he'd reach the real world, but I didn't know if the real world still existed. I thought maybe a nuke had destroyed the real world, but of course that wasn't explained. I think maybe Nic was never human, but was just a computer character in a game and finally realized his existence, but I'm not sure. Dr. Damon was either an alien to start with and made to look human, or he was human to start with, then altered with alien technology... who knows.

I kind of hated this movie. I felt mostly confusion, frustration, with a tad bit of interest. I waited for answers that never came. The movie tried to show how artistic and primal it was, but it missed for me. If it slowed down a bit and showed the scenes more clearly, it might have gotten a better rating. As it was, the movie ended with a need for me to throw my shoe across the room.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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