The slightly ponderous sci-fi Signal One doesn’t ask whether we’re alone in the universe, but whether we should make ourselves known if we aren’t. Released in the week following the arrival of Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, this low-key film of ideas will be be as a ripple in the ocean in comparison. Yet it shares Spielberg’s general optimism about extra-terrestrial life, while really putting the hard science into science fiction, and being mercifully free of the mawkish metaphysical baggage of its blockbuster parallel. It does however, get bogged down in a hyper-verbal script that is big on ideas, but a little short on humanity.

Stargazing billionaire Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) approaches brilliant young scientist Annika Kask (Isabelle Fuhrman), drawn by her being the first person to have photographed dark matter. He invites her to join a group of fellow geniuses, including computer scientist Charlie Kaminsky (Josh Hutcherson), and grizzled veteran boffin Perry Glassner (David Thewlis) at his lab on his own Caribbean island. The intention is to pull their intellectual resources and make contact with other life in the universe. As they get close to their goal, and their enquiries into the ether seem to get a response, Annika begins to question the wisdom of continuing further.

Signal One falls somewhere thematically between Arrival via Jurassic Park via Glass Onion, meditating on communication (with alien life, but also between ourselves), scientific ethics, and the actions of very rich men operating outside of governmental purview. It begins rather dryly, with a narration by Fuhrman using the plot device of Annika being grilled by authorities following the events of the film. There is a very Arrival-esque montage of loss and grief suffered by Annika as a very robust but uninspired shorthand for what makes her tick. It’s a little slapdash and fails to set the human stakes of the story, with Fuhrman not quite convincing enough.

The film hits firmer ground when Thewlis comes to the fore. Although Perry is also burdened with his own grief, the actor gets to feast on some chewy philosophical nihilism reminiscent of his performance in Mike Leigh’s Naked. Writer/ director Jonathan Sobol knows what he has at his disposal here, and Thewlis is by some distance the film’s ace. Hunger Games alumni Fuhrman and Hutcherson are game, but saddled with far less interesting characters. It’s when Perry is holding forth about extraterrestrial life and man’s propensity for self-destruction that the script bursts into life, and the film marries some hefty ideas that expect its audience to keep up, with some tremedously foul-mouthed and gloomy proselytising.

It’s a shame then that, especially given Signal One‘s central concern being language and the importance of clear communication, that it gets somewhat tongue-tied by the end and talks itself into a corner. Sobol knows that something approaching spectacle is required; the alien life needs to show up to some degree. The film is far less assured when it’s asked to show and not tell, falling back on opacity and vagueness with the hope that the established human stakes will bear the narrative strain. Unfortunately, they don’t. The one-dimensional characterisation and contrived back stories don’t offer much to root for, and one ends up feeling that the aliens’ intentions – benign or hostile – are somewhat moot. The film also seems to be pushing for us to buy into the paternal benevolence of Quaid’s billionaire, functioning like some hi-tech Daddy Warbucks. This altruism is far less convincing as a concept than the existence of the film’s extra-terrestrials.

Signal One really does have some good ideas, and demonstrates Sobol’s ability to make dense and difficult dialogue cinematic. It’s low budget is evident, but there’s a confidence in much of its script that overcomes this. It just deals far better with concepts than character in a way that’s far too detrimental to the impact of the film. One didn’t expect awe, but when reaching for the sky like this, something of a sense of wonder should linger after the credits.

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