Bird Box (2018)

• Year: 2018
• Released: 21 Dec 2018
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 5 wins & 9 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bird_box
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/bird-box
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
• Runtime: 124 min
• Writer: Eric Heisserer, Josh Malerman
• Director: Susanne Bier
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich
• Keywords: woman director, based on novel or book, post-apocalyptic future, survival horror, doomsday,

	6.6/10
	51/100
	64% – Critics
	57% – Audience

Bird Box Storyline

Amid a nightmarish new reality where an unseen malevolent force purges the global population, the single mother, Malorie, and her two children, embark on a life-threatening quest to find the last protected haven on Earth. However, in this dangerous quest, one’s eyesight is the real enemy–and as the defenceless blindfolded protector summons up the courage to follow a faint shred of hope hidden deep in a refuge down the river–darkness may be the only thing that can save them. Now, the rules of survival have changed. Will Malorie and her kids live to see another day?

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Bird Box Movie Reviews

The Happening

Netflix produced movies always seem to have a touch of not quiet being the final product about them. A star vehicle of a slightly over the hill star with a third rate script, an expensive bomb sold to Netflix or something low key that might had done well in the independent film circuit.

Bird Box has provided them with hype and an Oscar winning star in Sandra Bullock.

Malorie (Sandra Bullock) is a pregnant woman in a society that has fallen apart as people inexplicably commit suicide.

It seems something the victims see causes them to harm themselves.

Malorie hooks up with other survivors and shut themselves off from the world.

The film goes forward and back in time. In the future, Malorie and two young children, all blindfolded try to find a safe haven. They have a bird box as birds chirp when an alien danger is nearby.

You get a sense that in this society that the blind man is king. Like the film A Quiet Place, you sense there is an alien presence. Instead of not making a noise, you need to avoid seeing them.

The initial scenes are shocking, horrifying and mesmerising. Then it has all the tropes of a zombie movie as the survivors are holed up and one of the character’s is played by John Malkovich and he dislikes everyone.

The bits with Malorie and the blindfolded kids did not work for me, it takes a serious leap of logic as to how they got to the river and go whitewater rafting while blindfolded. It is hairraising to do the rapids while you have your eyes open.

‘If you look, you will die’ Mallory sternly tells the two children. It reminded me of David Tennant’s tenth Doctor telling people not to blink.

Elements of the film is clunky, silly, it does not always add up. Why do some people see the monsters and not top themselves? Instead force others to open their eyes. Surely not all of them can be insane. Madness in people have different layers, here they become the alien entity fan club.

Susanne Bier showed she is an interesting and effective director in the BBC television series, The Night Manager. Here she does well with a script that is rather cumbrous and derivative of similar themed films.

Effective enough, although derivative

BIRD BOX is a new sci-fi/horror movie from Netflix, heavily derivative of the likes of A QUIET PLACE and THE HAPPENING. The film stars an ageing Sandra Bullock as a rather unlikely pregnant woman who gets caught up in a weird apocalypse that causes people who witness invisible monsters to become instantly suicidal. She takes refuge in a large home with the usual assorted characters before going on a quest to find safety.

The major issue I had with this film is the narrative chronology, which is all over the place. The repetitive flash-forwards to adventures on the river really take you out of the flow of the main story. The earlier half is the better, with some sub-NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD shenanigans in the house and good performances from the likes of John Malkovich. I found the CGI eye effects to be a bit superfluous and the performances to be rather shrill at times, but overall this is an effective enough thriller.

structural flaw

Malorie (Sandra Bullock) harshly lays out the rules to two young kids named Boy and Girl. They are going on a difficult river trip. They have to stay quiet and can never ever take off their blindfolds. The situation begins five years earlier. People are going mad and killing themselves. Malorie is extremely pregnant and her boyfriend has left. She’s at a checkup with her sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson) when she first encounters the happening. She escapes the chaos and finds shelter with various people inside a house.

This is a variation on The Happening with a touch of A Quiet Place. Here the thing about The Happening. I didn’t hate it. Mark Wahlberg and the reveal almost get me to hate it but I like the concept just enough to overcome it. The mass suicide angle is good although the deaths in this one is much more kinetic and therefore much more harrowing. There are a few problem, the biggest being the structure. Basically, the flashforward structure reveals who are probably going to die. The movie should have started with Malorie laying out the rules but the audience cannot see who she’s talking to. It should have played the movie chronologically after that. By revealing the final grouping, it sucks the tension right out of the movie. Along with that, there are issues with some of the characters’ actions. Someone should be in the room with Greg ready to pull the plug on the monitor. He is basically performing an experiment and it needs someone else to monitor it. When the group decides to leave the grocery store, there is no reason why Douglas wouldn’t want to stay. In fact, it would be easier to move the group to the store rather than the other way around. While I understand locking up Douglas, somebody is supposed to look through Gary’s bag. At the very least, I would have tied up Gary and put him under questioning. When the girls start the contractions, somebody should release Douglas. They need another set of hands. Instead of braving the rapids, it would be safer to walk it, no matter how much longer it would take. Despite all these issues, I do find the concept very compelling and it pulls me into its world.