Remember when you were watching "Lost" on TV ten years ago (yep it was ten years ago) and you adored the first, and maybe the second, seasons but then partway through the series you started to get the uncomfortable feeling that this wasn't going to be an intelligent, coherently thought-out story at all. That the writers were just making up new questions and cliffhangers as they went along with no intention of answering them in a satisfying or even intelligible way?
The Signal is very much like a condensed version of "Lost" in this respect. It begins slowly, showing great potential for developing intriguing and likable characters. It builds masterfully, layering increasingly creepy and atmospheric events one on top of the other. The average viewer swallows it down readily, reveling in the creepiness, delighted to be taken on an apparently intelligent and thoughtful excursion into sci-fi horror.
Then about 60 minutes in, you start having little conversations with yourself along the lines of "This better have a good explanation at the end". About 75 minutes in and you're starting to get that same sinking feeling you had during "Lost" where you realize it's not going to have a good explanation at all but you're now too invested to just turn it off. You have to continue to the end out just to see how badly you've been conned.
The answer is, pretty badly. By the time The Signal actually takes on its own plot shape (instead of just being a build of odd events) it turns out to be a derivative and nonsensical disappointment with the motivations of the antagonists never explained in any meaningful way. Worse still, there are scripted physics upsets that push far beyond the boundaries of belief and that would elicit a "come on, really!" even from a hardcore anime fan. An example is the alien fists that can pulverize the earth Incredible Hulk style, but with no thought to the fact that the very human shoulder above them would be destroyed long before the ground would, not to mention the fact that any such force comes from waist, shoulder and torso, not fist, for example...
Ultimately The Signal is a big dupe, a tease - pulling you in with a promise of original and intelligent sci-fi but proving to be little more than an exercise in stringing the viewer along sans payoff. If you are one of the rare individuals who can enjoy a movie purely for a journey with no destination, or for the aesthetics and cinematography alone, then you might enjoy it and certainly won't feel like your time was wasted. But if you're the type of person who likes setups paid off, questions answered, motivations explained, even to a tiny degree, then you'll likely be upset by the time the credits roll.
The Signal is very much like a condensed version of "Lost" in this respect. It begins slowly, showing great potential for developing intriguing and likable characters. It builds masterfully, layering increasingly creepy and atmospheric events one on top of the other. The average viewer swallows it down readily, reveling in the creepiness, delighted to be taken on an apparently intelligent and thoughtful excursion into sci-fi horror.
Then about 60 minutes in, you start having little conversations with yourself along the lines of "This better have a good explanation at the end". About 75 minutes in and you're starting to get that same sinking feeling you had during "Lost" where you realize it's not going to have a good explanation at all but you're now too invested to just turn it off. You have to continue to the end out just to see how badly you've been conned.
The answer is, pretty badly. By the time The Signal actually takes on its own plot shape (instead of just being a build of odd events) it turns out to be a derivative and nonsensical disappointment with the motivations of the antagonists never explained in any meaningful way. Worse still, there are scripted physics upsets that push far beyond the boundaries of belief and that would elicit a "come on, really!" even from a hardcore anime fan. An example is the alien fists that can pulverize the earth Incredible Hulk style, but with no thought to the fact that the very human shoulder above them would be destroyed long before the ground would, not to mention the fact that any such force comes from waist, shoulder and torso, not fist, for example...
Ultimately The Signal is a big dupe, a tease - pulling you in with a promise of original and intelligent sci-fi but proving to be little more than an exercise in stringing the viewer along sans payoff. If you are one of the rare individuals who can enjoy a movie purely for a journey with no destination, or for the aesthetics and cinematography alone, then you might enjoy it and certainly won't feel like your time was wasted. But if you're the type of person who likes setups paid off, questions answered, motivations explained, even to a tiny degree, then you'll likely be upset by the time the credits roll.