Before watching the movie Soundwave, I’d never thought much about the title phenomenon. According to the film, however, soundwaves have gotten short shrift. In the movie, protagonist Ben Boyles (Hunter Doohan) has invented a device that allows him to use soundwaves to listen to people in both the present and the past -- and when under pressure he realizes soundwaves also make a powerful weapon. Who knew? Of course, I’m not sure I actually learned much of anything factual from the movie about soundwaves, even after watching Ben extol their virtues. While Soundwave’s focus on what can be heard makes it somewhat original in the realm of sci-fi invention movies, it also makes that invention both more and less complicated as the story require, and the more the invention becomes a convenient catch-all plot device, the less impact the film has.
Soundwave starts out promisingly enough. The first sequence shows Ben on the run from men who apparently want to steal his soundwave device and are willing to hurt him to do it. While this is meant to foreshadow the action to come, things get a lot more engaging after the movie flashes back to the week prior. Ben works at an electronics repair shop where he specializes in fixing old-timey radio equipment. His kindly boss, Antonio (Mike Beaver), is also his guardian, or at least the person putting a roof over his head. It’s unclear how old Ben is. While it seems he’s no longer in school, he still looks like a young teenager and traverses the city by bike. Between the cramped shop, the boy on the bike and the movie’s lighting and soundtrack, these early scenes have a charming '80s vibe. In fact, if it weren’t for Ben texting on his smart phone, you could almost be lulled into believing the movie takes place in the past.
It’s those texts that pull Ben into the movie's larger story as text is how Detective Macy (Vince Nappo) summons him for help with his cases. Macy has Ben use his invention to listen to the past conversations of potential criminals from right before they committed their crimes. This reverse Minority Report scenario provides information that’s helped Macy crack numerous cases, but he also sees potential in Ben’s device for more. So one night he surprises Ben by calling him to a meeting with a shady man who is clearly interested in procuring the device for questionable purposes. When Ben refuses to sell, the man, Frank (Paul Tassone), sends goons after him and anyone he’s ever had any connection with, leading Ben to go on the run.
The movie becomes less interesting as the plot revs into high gear. The film is so interested in the thriller aspects of its story that it never fleshes out the plot points that could give it emotional weight. Ben created his device to find out what happened to his father who disappeared when he was a child (his mother is never mentioned), so his reasons for constantly tinkering with and trying to perfect it are in service of a highly personal goal. But the movie never makes it feel that way. Instead, Soundwave spends a great deal of time showing Ben listening into strangers’ conversations, which just makes him seem creepy.
Part of the reason for this is Doohan’s performance. A great deal of the movie rests on the actor's shoulders, but his general lack of charisma make him a less than engaging lead. Ben is supposed to be stoic but incredibly intelligent, yet he seems oblivious to the implications of his invention, especially the potential privacy violations. And while he's supposed to give as good as he gets in conversations with the nefarious Frank and other adults, quips that might come across as impish or clever in another actor’s hands, fall flat. Meanwhile, as Frank, Tassone comes across as a standard threatening movie villain. While the character likes to use words to threaten and cajole, he’s more cartoonish than convincing.
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As Soundwave continues, the plot becomes increasingly nonsensical. Ben teams up with his crush, Katie (Katie Owsley), who works at a local convenience store and who Ben could barely speak to until Frank’s men started coming after him. He tells Katie about his device almost immediately after awkwardly confronting her. He also admits that he’s been using it to listen to her for an extended period of time. However, outside of a fleeting concern about his disturbing behavior, she seems to come to the conclusion that his eavesdropping is just a convenient way to forego the time people would usually devote to getting to know one another.
By the time the movie reaches what’s supposed to be an ironic ending, it just seems silly. This isn’t helped by the barely there reaction from Ben that does nothing to make the film's final moments resonate. Ultimately, Soundwave gets so caught up in Ben’s evasion of Frank that it sacrifices the promise of its interesting sci-fi ideas and its throwback sensibility, instead devolving into a generic thriller.
Soundwave, written and directed by Dylan K. Narang, stars Hunter Doohan, Vince Nappo, Paul Tassone, Katie Owsley and Mike Beaver. It is available to stream on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Fandango Now, Google Play, Microsoft Play and Vudu.